Avatar: The New Age - Book One: Empire -
by Augustus Aurelius
Summary: One hundred and forty-five years have passed since the end of the Hundred Years War. The world has spent the past seventeen years fighting a new war: the Four Nations war. Every Nation is desperate to find the new Avatar in the hopes that they will turn the tables. A new form of bending has appeared, Energybending, and it's practitioners have other plans for the new Avatar...
1. The End

_**A/N: Howdy everyone! Welcome to my first story on FF! I've been working on the concept of this story for awhile now, and I've finally figured out how I'm going to do it. My only problem is I have no one to share it with! And that's where you guys come along! Please feel free to read and review and comment on this story, as well as give me any ideas you may have for it! I love getting feedback and new ideas!**  
_

_**The first two "chapters" are long. I'm sorry, but it had to be done. In order to prepare you for the world you're going to be thrown into if you decide to delve into the devious machination that I call **_**Book One: Empire_, I wrote this nice prologue! If you want to _really _enjoy it, read it in Katara's voice._**

**_Enough of me, I always blabber on for too long! Enjoy!_**

* * *

**_Book One: Empire_**

_One day, the world began to end._

_Long ago, the Four Nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked._

_Only the Avatar, master of all four Elements, could stop them. And he did. The Avatar helped rebuild the damage done over the long Hundred Year War for the next fifty years of his life._

_After the death of Avatar Aang, the Avatar Cycle continued. The new Avatar was a Waterbender named Korra. She fought many battles in her lifetime in the name of the new Republic City. She became a symbol of harmony and peace for the entire world._

_But years passed, and the Avatar grew old. Fire Lady Kazra, daughter of the great Fire Lord Zuko, died of mysterious circumstances after forty years of her peaceful reign. Eager and suspiciously prepared, her eldest son Ursan took the throne._

_Ursan was a ruthless and brilliant Fire Lord, and he began to plot with the Earth King Taishua. Over a span of ten years, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdoms began to amass their armies in key offensive positions._

_Avatar Korra tried in her old age to convince the Fire and Earth Nations to put down their weapons and return to their ancestral homes, but neither Nation listened. _

_The Water Tribes sent emissary after emissary to the Air Nomads, pleading for assistance in the coming battles. It took two years of pleading and begging, but the still-growing Airbender population agreed to join forces against the impending Fire and Earth Nation attack. _

_With thirty years before the death of Avatar Korra, a strange thing had begun to happen. It was similar to the sudden Airbending development in her early years. This time, people began to glow and could shoot light out of their bodies._

_They named it Energybending, in honor of Avatar Aang and his defeat of the Fire Lord Ozai with the powerful technique. However, the Energybenders cared nothing for the Avatar. They cared nothing for balance. They rented themselves out as elite mercenaries and bodyguards and tacticians to the highest bidders. _

_Years passed, and vicious unofficial skirmishes began to break out along every Nation's border. After the death of Avatar Korra, the war broke out in full. One hundred and forty five years after the end of the Hundred Year War, the Four Nations War began. _

_With the death of Avatar Korra, the world immediately began searching for the new Earthbending Avatar. It was a race to see who could find and claim the child for their cause first. _

_One day, the world began to end. And it's still ending. _


	2. The First Lie

**The First Lie**

**Aelius**

* * *

_ They told me, when I was a child, that in the aftermath of the Rend, the Five Gods gave us magical powers. They told me that the Five Gods granted us the abilities that we use today._

_The Goddess of Wisdom and Grace, Shuishun, gave my people the power to control the waves. She gave us the power to control the ebbs and the flows, the snows and the rains, and she taught us how to use our own spiritual energies for healing our fellow man. Shuishun also taught a select few with her gift the power to control life itself. Those who originally worshiped Shuishun traveled to the North and South Poles and scattered throughout the wettest places on the planet, because Shuishun told them that in order to use her gift properly, my people needed to find their individuality._

_The God of Peace and Freedom, Tianqui, gave my people the power to control the winds. He gave us the power to control the gusts and the clouds, the air we breathe and the skies we live under, and he taught us how to soar like the birds. Tianqui bestowed upon the masters of his gift the ability to control the waves of sound that are carried by the winds. Those who worshiped Tianqui in the beginning of the New Age scattered to all four corners of the planet, because Tianqui told them that they needed to be as free as the birds that fly above us in order to master his gift._

_The God of Desire and Power, Suoai, gave my people the power to control the fires of our planet. He gave us the power to control heat and flame, how to propel ourselves across distances and how to cook our food, and he taught us how to ignore the pain of heat. Suoai granted the gift of the purest of fires, lightning, to those who best embodied the drive and purpose that the God represented. They tell me that Suoai consulted with Shuishun as to where his people should live. Shuishun told him that his people should live in isolation from the world, because if they lived with the rest of the Five God's people they would soon dominate the entire planet. Suoai saw the wisdom in this and ordered his followers to live on a chain of islands far from the mainland._

_The Goddess of Endurance and Change, Tubian, gave my people the power to control the planet below us. She gave us the power to lift the mountains and build study homes, how to protect ourselves and how to stand as strong, and she taught us how to see from the eyes of our planet. Tubian instructed the strongest of my people in the gift of shaping the metals hidden deep away in the earth, because only the strongest men and women could work the strongest metals. Tubian gave her followers the largest swathe of the planet, because she knew that they could protect it from the other Gods' peoples. _

_They told me that the Ruler of Gods, the Ruler of Life and Death, the Ruler of Energy and Matter, the Ruler of Time and Space, was not pleased with the work of It's children. The Ruler told It's children that they had failed It, because they had made all the people of It's planet different from each other. They told me that because of the success of Sol, the Ruler of the Gods wished for every man and woman to be equal. Now, the Ruler of the Gods had to figure out a way to balance what It's children had done. _

* * *

I take a deep breath. When I am done, I look up and admire the stars. A part of me is still enamored by the infinity above my head. I feel myself slowly begin to count how many stars I can see, but I grin to myself and slowly shake my head. I close my eyes and take another deep breath. I breathe in the sweet salty air wafting towards me from the ocean. I feel a cold wave wash over my feet, and I try not to flinch. The water at this time of year is very cold even though the night is so warm. Just another oddity of our world.

As a cold breeze brushes across my bare chest, I'm reminded that I am not alone on this beach. I open my eyes and see a pale figure standing across from me. In the dim starlight, I can barely make out their tan skin and their long dark hair. The figure has a bare lower torso and I can see some places where muscle might be trying to show. A dark sports bra covers their upper body. For legwear, they were only a very short pair of dark _booty shorts_, as my generation calls them.

I take a deep breath, and bring my left hand up to chest level. I take another deep breath, this time releasing it slowly. I mentally search my brain, trying to find the little lump that is my doorway to my power. It takes me a few moments longer than usual, but I find it.

I feel a comforting tingle surge through my body. Others that might have experienced it might have worried that something was wrong with them; to me, it felt like the hug of an old friend. I return my attention to my hand, and concentrate on pushing the tingle out of my body through my palm.

A spark of energy, as white and pure as snow, begins to float a few inches above my hand. Little tendrils whip out of the spark, almost lovingly striking at my hand. I smile, comforted by the light that my spark is giving off into the dark night. Now that I have the spark, I push more of the tingling sensation out of my body and feed it to the energy above my palm.

A few moments later, I have a large ball of light about the size of my fist floating above my hand. It crackles softly, almost as if the ocean nearby is bothering it. I grin, and return my attention to the girl who is now illuminated by my energy orb. I see her light crimson eyes hungrily devouring the light that I have just created. Not many people get to see Energybenders bend our element, let alone ever meet an Energyweaver in person.

I feel my attention slowly changing to the girl's body. I can see now that her training clothes closely match her eyes; they are a light red. Some deep and ancient part of me is bothered by the fact that this girl has red eyes, but the more modern side of me pushes it away. Since the Rift, everyone has eye colors that match their element. It's natural now.

I bring my right hand over and dip my fingers into the energy sphere. My fingers tingle with the power running through them, and I visualize cutting the sphere in half. Visualizations help me bend, as with all benders. It helps keep our thoughts from going astray, and cuts down on the possibility of accidents. Soon, my right hand is holding a ball of energy the same size as the one in my left hand. My two energy spheres float calmly above my palms, giving off enough light to illuminate a few hundred feet around me.

The girl in red seems to jerk herself back to reality, and looks me in the eye. "I've never seen anything so… pure in my entire life." She takes a few steps back, even though she is already a few yards away from me. She brings her hands to her mouth and takes a deep breath. I see little tongues of flame sneak out from past her fingers. She removes her hands, which have little flames running across them.

The ancient part of me whispers urgently inside my head, telling me to throw water on the girl's hands because they shouldn't be on fire. That if the fire is there long enough, she'll get serious burns. The modernized part of me just laughs, and reminds the ancient side that fire is humanity's friend now, as is the earth, as is the water, as is the air, and as is pure energy.

In a few moments, the girl's hands are completely engulfed by orange flame. She brings them together in front of her chest, as if in prayer. She bows to me, and I return the gesture. My energy spheres obediently float in the air while I steeple my hands in front of my chest.

We both return to a standing position, and for a few moments listen to the waves gently fall upon the shore. I feel the cold water rush over my bare feet, and shudder gently. I take a step back with my left foot, adopting a fighting stance. I bend my knees, locating my center of balance. I bring my hands up to my chest, and make beckoning motions to the energy spheres. They swiftly return to envelop my hands in a warm and tingling light. I can't see my fingers anymore because of the white light that engulfs them, but that doesn't bother me anymore like it did when I was younger. I know my hands are still inside the light because I can feel them.

The girl adopts her own fighting stance, with her right leg forward and her flaming hands held out to her sides. She looks as if she's waiting for a referee to blow his whistle to announce the start of a race. Her eyes meet lock with mine, and we share a moment of silence broken only by the sound of the ocean.

I take a deep breath, and exhale. "Begin." I say softly.

The girl brings her right hand up across her chest, and a wave of fire blasts out towards me. I hear the crackling of the intense flame, hungrily eating the oxygen like a starving animal. The red and orange mass shoots towards me, and the ancient part of my mind tells me to duck and get out of the way as fast as I can or else I will get burned. The modern side just tells the ancient side to watch and learn.

I bring my left foot forward and turn my body to face the water, in the same motion shoving my left palm towards the fire. The energy in my hand seems to predict my desire for it, and projects a circle of white light in front of my body. The circle is transparent enough so that I can see out of it, but it's like looking through the ocean waves. Everything on the other side is wavy and exact details are hard to make out.

The fire hits my energy shield, and I can see it make ripples in the center of my defense. The fire passes around my shield, but none of it gets close enough to do anything besides lick at me with a gentle heat. I bring back my left hand and the shield dissolves into the air. I step forward with my right foot and make a punching motion with my right hand. A jolt of energy zooms out that resembles a shooting star across the night sky.

The girl, who must have been expecting something like this, twirls to her left. Mid-spin, she brings up one of her bare feet and makes a kicking motion towards me. A ball of fire zooms out of her foot, and I quickly repeat my shield-making motion. The shield is smaller this time, and dissipates into the air as soon as it makes contact with her fireball. She ends her spin and makes three swift punches towards me, each one shooting fist sized blasts of flame in my direction. I can see the red and orange flames reflecting in her crimson eyes, and I can see the amount of effort and energy she's putting into this fight. I grin.

I lean over backwards, allowing all the fireballs to pass over my torso. I can feel the heat from them pass over my bare chest, and one of them gets close enough to give me a light burn across my belly button. The muscles in my back fight to maintain my posture. Once the fire completely goes by me, I bring my back leg up over my body, and release some of the tingle that is running through my leg. My foot glows with pure power, and it releases a large slash of energy toward the girl. Once my foot slams against the sand, I bring my right leg around my body in a spinning kick that sends an orb of grey energy towards the girl.

The girl sidesteps the first part of my attack, letting the pillar of energy pass by her without it so much as touching her. She grins as the orb goes to the place where she was before, and watches out of the corner of her eye as it speeds away into the distance.

Knowing that she isn't paying attention, I make a gesturing motion with my hand. I see the orb in the distance slow down, and then reverse direction. The girl has already turned her back to it, thinking that it has already dissipated. She throws a series of fireballs at me, which I block using five fast shields. The girl takes a very deep breath, her body arcing backwards. I know what she is about to do; I've seen other Firebenders do it before.

True to tradition, the girl releases her breath in a violent torrent of fire. The splay of red and orange flames dance towards me, and I can see the sand under the attack turning red from the heat. I know better than to try to get out of the way of her attack. I bring my two hands in front of my body, and wait for the fire to get to me. It only takes a few split seconds.

I quickly put my hands in front of me, and then separate them. I mentally form the image of a wall of pure light in front of me, and my imagination becomes reality. A barrier of light forms in front of me, and I can only see the inferno of fire out beyond it. The fire is diverted to both sides of the shield, and even though it's so far from my body I can feel the flames as they pass by.

I drop the shield once the breath attack is finished.

But the girl is there, in midair, about to firmly plant her foot into my face. I see the burst of flame behind her back foot that she used to rocket herself up into the sky, and I can see that it is even now rocketing her towards my face. I have a few milliseconds before I enter a world of pain. My nose will probably be broken, I will most likely have some missing teeth, and I may even get a minor concussion.

Unless I do something about it. And I do.

Fast as a bullet, I reach up with my right hand and grab the girl's bare ankle. It's lukewarm, and I feel the heat intensify as I grab hold. I give her a slight push upward, and lean back as she rockets over my head. The flames from her back foot lick at my hair as they pass over me. I quickly lean down and shove the top of my head into the sand in order to put out any fires. When I come back up, I see the girl is about thirty feet away from me, picking herself up off the sand.

I feel a slight tingle in my left hand, and I turn around and grab the grey orb of energy that I had shot earlier before it has a chance to hit me. When I turn back around, the girl is already back up, and running towards me. I don't have time to put up any defenses or block her. I feel the wind get knocked out of me as she punches me in my stomach.

I stumble back a few steps, and use the motion as the prelude to a roundhouse kick to the girl's head. She puts up her left arm to block it, but I put enough force behind my spin to knock her arm out of the way. She grunts as my foot makes contact with her left shoulder. I bring my leg back, and throw a series of energy-imbued punches at the girl's stomach. The first two hit her, and I see little tendrils of energy course through the skin around where my fists made contact. She lets out little puffs of breath as each punch hits her, but is obviously recovered enough to send a flaming uppercut towards my jaw. I lean my head back before she has a chance to hit my jaw, and use my right hand to push her fiery fist to the side.

The girl, however, must have expected me to push her hand out of the way, because her knee is already coming up towards my midsection. I jump backwards and throw a punch with both of my hands towards the girl. Balls of energy speed out from my glowing hands, and the girl responds with two fireballs of her own. The four projectiles hit each other with a loud crack and a crinkle, almost like the aftereffects of fireworks.

I feel my feet make contact with the sand. The sand is hot though, and then I recall the earlier fire breath attack. My primal senses kick in, and I immediately jump to my right in order to save my feet. I land in a pile of cooler sand.

And there is the girl again, throwing a rocket punch towards my face. I duck under the attack, and shove my left palm into the girl's chest. A small shield forms there, and she is knocked back a few feet by the energy. I form an energy orb with my right hand, this one a brilliant silver, and launch it at the girl.

It hits her right in the center of her chest. I see it enter her body, and for a few split seconds, the girl's veins glow with the brilliant color. And then it's gone. She falls to the fine beach sand, taking shallow breaths. Her hair falls around her face, and it looks as though her arms are barely supporting her weight. I remember the first time I was hit by a silver sphere. It's not a fun experience.

I'm not quite sure what to do now, so I awkwardly stand there for a few moments while the girl gasps for breath. I give her credit for not throwing up; that is what I did the first time a silver hit me.

I take a few unsteady steps towards the girl. She doesn't notice as I kneel down besides her. I can't see her face very well through all of her dark hair, but I can see the little tongues of fire that escape her mouth each time she breaths. I almost put a comforting hand on her back, but I stop myself when I realize that my hands are still glowing. Touching her would send more energy coursing through her body, which I don't think would be a good idea. I clench both of my fists and visualize the energy disappearing, and it fades away.

_Now _I put my hand on the girl's back. "It'll be fine." I say softly. A low breeze comes from the direction of the ocean, and the girl's hair brushes against my leg. "Just take a few slow breaths. It takes awhile for the body to recover from a few hundred volts of pure energy. I'm surprised you aren't throwing up." My mouth just takes over from my brain. What else could I possibly say? I've never really been a comforting kind of person.

"It… feels like I will." The girl's voice is light but precise, as if every syllable has a specific purpose. The girl retches but nothing comes out of her mouth. She takes a few deep breaths, and leans up. She puts her hands on her knees, and turns her head to look at me. I see the subtle curves of her face glow in the starlight. Her crimson eyes have the entire star field reflecting out of them, it seems.

"That was some breath you sent at me there. Thought you had a dragon hidden in your mouth that you forgot to tell me about." I tell her, not know at all what I'm saying. Just making conversation, I guess. I guess.

The girl laughs, and it's a merry and gleeful sound. "Too bad it didn't do anything besides burn your feet."

I shrug. "Hey, at least it did something."

The girl looks up at the stars. "It's like you came from space. You move like something out of a storybook, and you shoot light from your body. It's amazing." She looks at me again, and smiles a little. "Your hands, when you moved, left trails in the air. It was like you were dancing with ribbons or something."

I grin. "Its why some people sometimes call us _Energyweaver_. People used to say that we weaved entire tapestries of light with our hands. Now all we're good for is light shows."

The girl laughs. "Weavers are the most skilled warriors in the entire world, feared and honored across all of the Four Nations, and you call what you just did a _light show_? Do you know how much money you could make with your light show?"

I laugh too, because I have to admit that I have thought about that before. "As much as I wanted, before the people chased me out of town. You hit the nail on the head. We're feared." I stand up, and offer my hand to the girl. She takes it, and I pull her up. She begins walking towards the grassy plains that mark the end of the beach. I grab the small leather bag that I had brought with me, and sling it over my shoulder.

"I can breathe fire." The girl waits for me to catch up. "That used to be something that you would only hear about in stories. But at least a quarter of the world can do it too, now. Another quarter of the world can control the winds and the very air that we all breathe. A quarter can move boulders with their minds, more or less, and the last quarter can control the oceans. That kind of stuff has been normal for the past two thousand years. Nothing should really be amazing anymore. And yet here you are controlling light and electricity, and you don't find that amazing?"

I step onto the dark green plains, and look at the dark grass beneath my feet. My eyes haven't adjusted yet to the lack of light. "Like you said, that stuff is normal to me now. If you did the kind of stuff I did every day, you wouldn't be as impressed. It's _not _impressive. I could have seriously hurt you. If that grey sphere earlier _had_ hit you, you would still be unconscious."

We walk for a few minutes in silence, approaching the dark woods that border the woods around our summer camp. We crept out in the middle of the night to spar, because she had told me she had never seen an Energybender before. I had declined at first, but she managed to convince me in the end. Well, my friends managed to convince me when they heard I declined.

The girl breaks the silence once we reach the trees. "Are you going to join the fighting one day, Aelius?"

I form an energy sphere above my right hand in order to give us some light to see through the trees. The sphere casts ominous shadows behind the trees, but I'm not scared. I've never been afraid of the dark. "I don't know." I say. "I know people on every side of the war. My father expects me to hire myself out when I get older, because that's what most Energybenders do."

"Who is your father fighting for?" The girl asks. She's behind me now, letting me lead the way because I have the light. Her voice is faint.

"The Water and Air Confederacy. He's at the Eastern Temple right now." I think about my father: graceful as a Waterbender and as cunning as an Airbender. It only made sense when he told me he accepted a contract from the Confederacy. A few thousand gold ingots was a _very_ good deal, he said. He told me, before he left, that he would bring me back a nice Earthbender girl. I don't know if he was joking or not.

"Who do you live with now? Your mom?" The girl asks from behind me. I cannot tell whether she is bothered by the fact that my father is out fighting against her nation. I know that if I were in her place, I certainly would be.

"Mom died in the war. Killed by raiders." I feel my chest trembling at the memory. I was young, but old enough to remember because some things you can never just forget…

"What Nation were they?"

"Does it matter?" I ask. I fight the urge to turn around and start screaming. Instead, I stand still amidst the dark forest. The light above my hand grows brighter at my inner conflict. "What does it matter who kills anybody? Dead is dead. Whether it's by an icicle through the throat, a fireball to the heart, a boulder to the spine, being deprived of oxygen for weeks, or a dagger to the ribcage. Does it matter who kills who?"

I can't fight it anymore. I turn around and look at the girl, realizing for the first time just how dark it is around the edges of my light. My energy sphere illuminates her entire body, and I can see a single tear running down her face. Her crimson eyes now look blood red, full of life and youth. She wipes at the tear before it reaches her chin.

"Because maybe if you find out who did it, you can find them, and…" She stops and looks at me. I've thought about that. Finding the people who killed my mother and turned my father crazy. Finding them and killing them like they killed my mother. But if I did that, what good would it do? Yes, I could send thousands and thousands of volts of electricity running through their body. But what would be the point? Would that change anything?

I turn back around. "It doesn't work like that. Let's get back to camp."

I try not to show my tears, and I try not to let my sobs leave my chest, but the ancient part of me tells me that the girl already knows.


	3. The Second Lie

**The Second Lie**

**Cathra**

* * *

_They told me that the Four Nation's War would end with the appearance of the next Avatar. They told me that the Avatar would be born into the Earth Kingdom, and that however could claim the young impressionable child as their own first would win the war._

_They told me that every Nation had agents combing every inch of land in the Earth Kingdom, looking for any sort of sign that the Earthbending Avatar had been born. Only the Energybenders stayed out of the search, preferring to sit back and take a break from the fighting. The Energybenders used the time to perfect their talents and develop new fighting forms. _

_The search went on. Agents began to comb every other Nation, thinking that somehow the cycle had skipped an element. Perhaps, they thought, the Avatar had died minutes after being born. Explanations were made, hypotheses formulated, priests consulted, but no one could find any trace of the Avatar. _

_So the world went back to war. _

_Republic City was the only safe haven in the entire world. The only place that Benders could stay neutral in the conflict. Every Nation decreed that Republic City would be a no-fire zone, a place where negotiations could take place (if they were ever needed.) Each Nation, secretly, sent agents into Republic City to stir up unrest towards their enemies. _

_Riots broke out. One day, the Waterbenders would be marching through the streets, the next day it would be the Fire and Earthbenders. The riots only ended when the War ended, and that was a long time after it began. I remember, clearly, the riots. I never took part in them, but I watched. I watched the people go by, shouting incomprehensible hatred._

_They told me that when the new Avatar was found, the War would end. They told me that the Avatar would restore balance to the world. Each of the Four Nations believed that the balance that would be created would be in _their_ favor. No one expected what really happened._

* * *

I look out my window across the dark compound as he opens the door to his group's cabin. For a brief moment, the light from inside his cabin portrays him as a dark silhouette. I hungrily look at his muscled torso while I can before Aelius closes the door to his cabin. I sigh under by breath, careful not to awaken my bunkmates. I didn't tell any of them that I snuck out to see Aelius. I don't know any of them well, and I was never big on trust anyways. I wasn't planning to use it in our fight, but I had a knife hidden inside my training bra in case anyone tried to seriously attack me. I wonder if the knife would have helped me at all in the sparring. Probably not.

I touch the center of my chest. That last ball of energy…

It had been invigorating. It was like having a small inferno inside of me for a few seconds, filling me with warmth and power. I felt it course through me, and for a couple of moments I had felt like I could do anything. I was terrified when my body had suddenly collapsed. I was scared when I realized that I couldn't handle that power inside of me; to think that Aelius can use that power at any time he wants awes me.

I'll admit, before tonight I had never truly believed in the Five Gods. That's a normal thing for Firebenders. It's a remnant of the hundred year period when we raged war against the other nations in an attempt to unify the world. Our national religion was deification of the Fire Lord, and the Gods were lost in the clamor. But now that I've seen Aelius, I believe in the Gods again. Only a God could create such a perfect creature like him.

Standing across from him on that beach awhile ago, I could tell that he was different. He wasn't a brute like the other guys his age that I've met. I've met plenty of brutes and have fallen for some of them. In the end, they all ended up breaking every promise they made me. To the chagrin of my father, I've had boyfriends from every nation. Well, except an Energyweaver boyfriend, but they don't count. They're too scattered to be considered a Nation. They haven't had a leader for at least a thousand years.

Maybe that would change. Maybe Aelius would be the new leader of his people. With his silver eyes and his amazing voice, he could persuade armies to follow him. It's not a deep voice that commands respect, it's a soft elegant voice that draws your attention and you _listen_ and _understand_ every word and every meaning. A voice like his. His voice certainly got _my _attention.

I wrench myself away from the window. I can spend all day tomorrow daydreaming. I look at a lonely clock on the wall, and realize that I've already spent the first twenty minutes of the day daydreaming. I moan under my breath, careful not to wake my fellow cabin-mates up. I would only get about six hours of sleep if I were to pass out on my bed right now.

It's too bad that going to sleep, for me, has always been a few-hour long process. My mind races at night. My father always told me that it was because the fires of my head were unstoppable. Smart man, my father.

I lay on my uncomfortable mattress. The springs poke my back in the most uncomfortable places, almost as if the bed is designed to hurt me. It's nothing like what I'm used to back home. Back home, my bed would be about the size of three of the summer camp beds put together, it would be filled with soft feathers, and my blankets would be made out of only the finest wool. Here I'm lucky that my blanket isn't so threadbare it's transparent.

One would think that the who's who of the world could give the Republic City Harmony Camp enough money to purchase better materials. I know my family pays an extraordinary amount of money to send me to this camp. My father told me, before I came here, that this camp would straighten me out and show me how the other half of the world lived. Maybe the other half of the world lived like this a thousand years ago, father, but now the other half lives in brick and metal houses with electricity and clean water.

I pull my rough blanket over my body when I get into bed. It's a faint orange, almost faded. I look at the blanket of the girl who sleeps across from me. Hers is green. She's an Earthbender, and I think she's somehow related to one of the Bei Fong merchant families. I don't really care who she is as long as she isn't an Airbender or Waterbender.

I roll back and forth in my bed, fighting for some comfort. It doesn't work. I sigh. All those years of lessons and training about how to be strong and resist pain, and I'm brought down by a simple mattress and the cold night. Some Firebender I turned out to be.

Not that I'm a bad Firebender. My mother told me that I was burping fireballs by the age of three. My father popped me into the best Firebending academies the Fire Nation could provide, and I spent most of my childhood growing up among the children of the most powerful families in the Fire Nation. I learned how to manipulate heat next to someone claiming to be descended from Fire Lord Zuko, and learned how to read and write from a man who said he was related to Avatar Roku in one way or another. It was probably all a bunch of pig-cow droppings, but to them it meant something.

Tonight I fall asleep dreaming of being back home in my bed. The cool breeze blows into my dream, ruffling my imaginary silk curtains. I look around my room, which is over a thousand miles away, and remind myself that I'll be back there in a few weeks. Back to my home sweet home.

I groan and move down the breakfast line. I slowly grab a few rice balls, fumbling with the second one. I don't typically wake up until one or two in the afternoon back home. Waking up at seven in the morning is like locking me in a meat freezer. It drains all the life and energy out of me, and I can barely move. I pray that the rice balls will give me energy. I grab a handful of cow-chicken sausages in the hope that they will give me life.

I make it to the end of the line with a good-sized meal on my plate. I walk out of the kitchen and look around the crowded cafeteria. The walls of the place are covered with multicolored banners that are supposed to represent harmony and teamwork and other cute things that no one believes in anymore. The entire camp is designed to make us all work together and "learn that we're all human." It doesn't work.

I look around the large cafeteria and find the table that has the most Fire Nation kids sitting at it. I see a few Earthbenders eating with them, along with one Waterbender I've seen at our table before. Some of the Firebenders deal well with members of other Nations; I'm not one of those Firebenders. I can barely stand my Nation's alliance with the Earth Kingdom. Time was when we almost conquered the entire world, and we did it with the fires in our hearts and the strength in our bones. The Fire Nation has grown weak in the past two hundred years. Everyone knows it. It's why the Water and Air Nations banded together to try to get rid of us.

I slowly bring my plate of food over to the predominantly-Firebender table. I sit close to the end near a group of Firebenders I've talked to a few times. They're talking about something with a lot of emotion, and it takes me a few seconds before I realize the topic.

"I'm telling you Kaza, if we just hit them at the Western Air Temple, we'd have immediate access to the Northern Water Nation."

Kaza, a tall brown haired boy a few years younger than me, rolls his eyes. "We already have immediate access." He says in between bites of sausage. "The Earth Kingdom takes up the entire middle of the world, in case you haven't noticed."

The other boy doesn't give up. "But the less we have to rely on our rocky relationship-"

A girl to the boy's left giggles. "Oh, Tian, the second the Earth Kingdom turns on us we'll just have another go at them like we did during the First War…"

They all laugh. After a few seconds, I do too. They don't look at me like I'm crazy, so that must be a good sign. I decide to throw my two coins into the conversation.

"All we need is a big metal koala sheep and we can just eat our way through the walls of Ba Sing Se. Second time is the charm, right?" I sheepishly grin. Everyone that hears me laughs. I give a breath of relief inside my head.

Then I take in a quick breath when I meet eyes with the person who just entered the dining hall. He's tall, has a body structure that's lithe yet still very well muscled, and has light grey eyes that look unnatural contrasted with his light brown hair. He's holding a plate of food that looks almost empty compared to mine. I've heard stories about how Energybenders suck all the energy out of food they eat. I'm not sure if that's just a myth or fact, and I'm not going to ask Aelius that any time soon.

Aelius meets my eyes for a moment, and I force myself into giving him a small smile. I remember a trick one of my friends back home taught me, and flick my hair back behind my ear and look away. Back home its so much easier to get guys to pay attention to me. They all know who I am. Here, it doesn't matter who anyone is. Heritage means nothing in Republic City, because here they're trying to break every single barrier that divides the Four Nations from each other.

I look back to where Aelius was standing. He's not there anymore. I scan the room, but find no sign of him. He was wearing a pair of white shorts and a white shirt, which would certainly stand out amidst all the blues, greens, yellows, and reds that everyone else is wearing. The only other Energybender at the summer camp is a blind girl that always wears grey clothing. How she manages to wear the same color everyday, I'll never know. Maybe it's all she owns.

I look down at my plate of food. I've made a considerable dent in my plié of sausages. I stab another one with my fork and bring it to my mouth.

"Hey, Fire Girl." A voice says behind my back. I don't turn around, and just continue eating my sausage. It's just someone trying to cause trouble. Hopefully they aren't talking to me.

"Hey, Smokey." The voice says again. It seems to be getting louder and louder. Oh, please don't be me, I silently beg. I don't want to get into a fight this early in the morning. My body isn't awake yet.

"Hot bitch, I'm talking to you!" The voice yells, and I feel a strong hand grab my shoulder and spin me around. My legs hit the legs of the girl to my left, and I wince as my shins collide with her armored legs. Who in the blazes wears armor to breakfast? Once I look my tormentor in the face, I realize I probably should start following her lead.

His name is Jeta. I've heard the other Firebenders talk about him. He's a hot-headed Waterbender, and he is probably the tallest person at the entire summer camp. He never wears shirts with sleeves so he can show off his vast array of muscles twenty-four hours a day. I've seen him get into fights with some of the Earthbenders and Firebenders. He broke someone's leg a few days ago. The camp administrators did nothing, because no one could ever prove that it was Jeta.

I stare into Jeta's cold blue eyes. He looks at me like I'm a cornered animal, which I certainly feel like. None of the Firebenders will help me, I know for certain. They're all too afraid of Jeta. He has plenty of water around him to bend; all of the tables in the cafeteria have huge jugs of water for drinking. I, on the other hand, have yet to awaken the fire inside me. I remind myself that I really need to start working on a better sleep schedule, if I make it home.

Jeta seems to be getting impatient with me. I don't know why. "Someone told me that they saw you last night sneaking out. What were you doing, Hotty?" He sneers at me. Instead of waiting for an answer, he continues. "I bet you were sending a dossier on every Water and Airbender here back home, huh?"

I swallow. "Just out getting some fresh air, Jeta. Nothing suspicious." I laugh nervously.

Jeta sneers again, this time showing yellow teeth. "Fresh air? What, you saying that us Waterbenders stink?" Jeta leans forward. I smell his breath, and it smells like rotten fish. "Are you saying I stink, Smokey?"

I consider all the possible retorts inside my head. I decide on the safest one. "Not at all, Jeta. I think you smell nice."

Next thing I know, Jeta's massive hand is around my neck, and my head is slammed against my stone plate. Thankfully, my sausage pile cushions the impact. I hear a few shouts from other tables in the cafeteria. Whether they are from enemies or allies, I can't tell. All that I can focus on, really, is the stars swimming before my eyes and Jeta's massive hand around my neck.

He squeezes, beginning to choke me. "My dad told me that I had to kill at least one Firebender before I got home. Looks like I'll be getting something special- for killing Princess Cathra herself." Jeta smiles, and the world begins to get hazy.

A few seconds pass, and they feel like eternity. I'm certain that I'm going to die. No one has the courage to stand up to Jeta. He's a monster. A behemoth of pure hatred for the Fire and Earth Nations. No one could even stop him, he's so huge and powerful.

"Let her go, Jeta."

I struggle to look for the source of the voice, but my head won't turn. Maybe I'm dead, and I'm just imagining things. I try again to breath, but my throat isn't letting me. I do see Jeta turn his head though, and look at the source of the voice.

"Suck one, Aelius. This Firesquirter don't owe you anything." Jeta says. I feel his hand get tighter on my throat. Aelius! I want to tell him to run as fast as he can, because he will get annihilated by the demon that is Jeta. I don't want him dying for me. Aelius has a destiny, I can tell. He's going to be important.

"Let the girl go, Jeta, or I'll _make_ you." Aelius says. I hear a sharp note in his voice. It sounds like the prelude to a roar. Jeta turns to look at me, and sneers. He lets go, and I take a few giant breaths of air. Oh, sweet release. I don't move though, because I feel like if I move the hand that was on my neck will reappear.

Jeta leaves my field of vision, and all I can see now is the white cafeteria ceiling. But I hear Jeta's voice. "Bring it, light boy. Let's see what your light show can do against the power of the ocean."

A silence sweeps over the cafeteria, as everyone suddenly waits for whatever will happen next. I slowly turn my head, and I see Aelius standing there facing off against Jeta. Aelius's grey eyes meet mine, and I silently pray that he makes Jeta pay for being the monster that he is. Aelius blinks.

And then he looks at Jeta. "Have it your way."

Before Jeta can even adopt a fighting stance, Aelius sends him flying across the cafeteria with a energy-imbued side kick to the chest. A few cheers and shouts arise from across the cafeteria, and everyone rushes to get out of the way of the fight. My table soon becomes deserted, with the exception of me. I remain where I am, like a doll on a shelf. I'm still trying to recover my breath.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jeta gesture and summon a few streams of drinking water from the jugs that he's passing in flight. He must use them to soften his impact, because I don't hear any loud noise that would indicate he hit a wall. I do, however, hear a rush of water, and I see a long tendril of clear water shoot towards Aelius. I follow it with my eyes, and Aelius merely pivots on one foot to let the tendril go past him.

Aelius uses the pivot as an opening for an energy slash, and I see the pure white crescent of energy soar away from his body towards Jeta. I try to get up and look at Jeta, but my head doesn't feel like moving yet.

Jeta must dodge or block it somehow, because immediately following the crescent's departure from my field of vision (which is still a little hazy) a dozen icicles shoot towards Aelius. I watch in silent awe as Aelius throws up just enough energy shields to shatter the icicles moments before they impale him. He moves with such a speed its like he can teleport his hands.

I hear a much louder roar of water, and two clear tentacles of the stuff shoot again towards Aelius. I hear Jeta yell something about how he's not even sweating yet, and I see Aelius's mouth form into a small grin. Aelius leans backwards to let the tentacles go over him, and kicks in the direction the water tentacles came from with both of his glowing feet. Two lights speed out, and for a moment the water that makes up the tentacles wavers. Then the tentacles deform and harmlessly soak the floor of the cafeteria.

I use a hand to grab the now-empty chair next to me where the armored girl had sat. I use it as a handhold as I pull myself up. I look around the cafeteria, and realize that people made a cordon, more or less, of tables to hide behind. I guess no one knew that Jeta would end up doing, so even his own Waterbender and Airbender friends felt like they had to protect themselves. I look over at Jeta.

I laugh. Jeta is trapped in a pile of chairs, and I see a little bit of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. I look over at Aelius, who is standing with both of his hands in front of his body. He's not even wet.

I begin to walk towards Aelius, who still doesn't bring his fists down. He doesn't look at me, only past me at Jeta. I start to open my mouth to thank him, but a prickle runs down my spine. Out of the corner of my eye, I see little ripples in the water that covers the floor. Is it an earthquake?

I hear a roar from behind me, and I turn around just in time to see Jeta throw all the chairs off him in an explosion of water. Two of the chairs come towards me, and I cover my head. Oh, if only I could Firebend this early in the morning! Then my life wouldn't be as bad as it is right now.

Aelius saves me, and somehow manages to slap away the chairs with the back of his glowing hands. I uncover my head in time to see Aelius fall on the ground, pulled down by water that Jeta had grabbed his ankles with. Aelius gives a soft cry of surprise, but manages to break free mid-fall. He closes his eyes when he's only an inch away from falling on his back, and suddenly a purple orb of light forms under him and stops his fall.

But Jeta is already in the air, yelling at the top of his lungs and holding a icicle that looks as sharp as a sword and more deadly. The ice twinkles with malicious delight. Aelius brings both of his legs up, and kicks towards Jeta. I see two grey spheres shoot out from his feet and hit Jeta square in the chest.

Tendrils of energy course through Jeta's skin. For a second, even his eyes glow with all the energy in him. Once they stop however, his eyes are unfocused. He hits the floor with a thud, and I swear it causes an earthquake of a small magnitude.

I gingerly walk up to Jeta and prod him with my shoe. "Is he…" I begin to ask Aelius.

"No." Aelius says softly. He comes over to stand above Jeta. "But he'll be unconscious for a few hours." Aelius's body is completely neutral, and his facial expression betrays nothing of what he might be feeling about knocking out the biggest bully in the entire summer camp. But I see a glimpse of something in his grey eyes. It seems like…

_He's afraid of something_.

The words come into my head before I even recognize what they mean, but I immediately know I'm right. It takes me a few moments before I realize what the real reason is for the cordon around the fight zone: nobody knew what _Aelius_ would do. I recall what Aelius said on the beach last night_. "As much as I wanted, before the people chased me out of town. You hit the nail on the head. We're feared."_

It dawns on me that it's not just the Four Nations that would fear Aelius. He's afraid of himself, too.

I touch Aelius on the arm, softly. He turns his head to look at me, and for a moment his eyes look like ivory pools of water. But then they resume their light grey color. "Thank you, Aelius. You saved my life."

Aelius smiles softly. "You never told me you were a Princess. Does that mean I get a reward?"

I groan inside my head. I thought more people knew! My father told me he sent a message to the summer camp administrators telling them to tell everyone that I was the heir Princess to the Fire Throne. I guess he lied. It wouldn't be the first time.

I rack my brain for witty comebacks, and one slips out of my mouth before I can review it. "You can have a room in the Capitol City Palace." I groan inside my head. Stupid me!

Aelius just laughs, and grabs a sausage off of a plate. I'm not sure if it's my plate or not, but I don't really mind. "Lucky me. Always wanted to visit the Fire Nation. Is breakfast always this exciting for you there, too?"


	4. Part One: The Path (I)

**A/N: Wow! I'm surprised by how many people have already read this already! I'm even more surprised at ****_where_**** some of the people that have been reading it are reading it from! In honor of my readers all over the world, I present the true beginning of _Avatar: The New Age_. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Book One: Empire**

**Part One: Republic City**

* * *

_"Sometimes the best way to solve your own problems is to help someone else."_

_-General Iroh_

"Allow me to repeat what you just said," The head administrator of the Republic City Harmony Camp tells me. "To make sure that I understand perfectly."

The man raps his fingers on his hard wooden desk. An electric fan blows air around the room from it's place in the corner. It does nothing to stop the man from sweating.

"You got into a fight with the _biggest_ boy in the entire Camp, and his father just _happens_ to be the Deputy Secretary to the Minister of War to the Water Tribe. And, you did this in a fight over a _girl_ who just _happens_ to be the daughter and heir princess of Fire Lord Ursan." The administrator uses his non-tapping hand to massage the bridge of his nose. He leans back in his office chair.

I remain standing, hands clasped behind my back, as the administrator mutters under his breath something about every toilet flush causing an international incident. I don't understand his problem. I didn't kill Jeta. I only knocked him unconscious. No permanent harm done. Well, unless he had a heart attack, or a stroke. Or brain damage, but he probably had that anyways.

I shift the weight distributed between my legs, and take a breath of cool air. "Sir, Jeta would have killed Cathra. No one else tried to stop him." I say, coolly. My father taught me from a young age how to deal with people who think they have power. His main advice was to give them the illusion of respect. I take a second and think of how to use his advice, and then I say "Sir, I know that Jeta could have gotten seriously hurt, but he was choking a defenseless girl. You would have had the entire Fire Nation to deal with if he had killed her."

The administrator brings his hands in front of his chest, and steeples his fingers. My father taught me that that was a motion that people did when they were trying to think of how to best use something, or someone, to their advantage. "Yes, yes, that's right…" the large man says under his breath, almost to himself. Then he looks back up at me. His eyes are brown, and I think he's an Earthbender. "You know what the Camp policy is. You have to go," the man begins. He leans towards me as though he's telling me a secret. "But the policy doesn't say _when_. You could stay the rest of the week."

I think about it, briefly. The Camp only lasts for another two weeks. I haven't learned much (anything, for that matter) since I got here. All I've really done was meet the Fire Nation's heir Princess Cathra and beat up a Waterbender named Jeta. No really great stories to write to my father about. "I'll leave today, sir. Thank you for your offer."

The administrator leans back, and rubs the bridge of his nose again. "I'll never understand you Energybenders. You have opportunities just thrown in your face, and you just close your eyes and keep selling yourselves out like a bunch of whores to the highest bidder." The man laughs, obviously entertained by his offensive joke. "A bunch of light-waving whores."

_This light waving whore_, I say inside my head, _could put so much energy inside of you that your eyes would pop and your heart would beat so fast it would rip a hole though your chest_. I don't say anything, and instead keep my impassive expression on my face. Energybenders are trained to not give into emotions. Even though I only had a year of training, I did learn that much.

I bring my right fist to my chest and bow, exactly like my father taught me to do. "I'll pack my bags, sir. Thank you for your time." Dismissing myself, I turn and walk out of the administrator's door. I enter the main room of the Camp's administrative building, and walk to the exit. I feel the eyes of everyone present on my back, but I don't mind. I'm used to people staring.

I open the door and take one of my last looks at the Republic City Harmony Camp. It's a stereotypical summer camp. A pool, cabins, dirt roads, and a dining hall. Nothing too elaborate to maintain, and probably a very low upkeep. It's surrounded on every side by a forest broken only in one place by a long dirt road. The road leads to Republic City, and it is the road I will have to walk to go back.

I walk back to my cabin. It's on the other side of the camp, almost directly across from the administrative building. Luckily, everyone right now is eating lunch. It's been a few hours since the Jeta incident. I was more or less confined in a room in the administrative building before I was questioned. The questioning took an hour before I could leave, and then I had to talk to the head administrator. Pointless bureaucracy.

I reach my cabin, and open the door. No one comes to see who I am, so I assume I'm alone. I close the door behind me and turn to my left. I climb up a ladder to the next floor, which is where my bunk is. I share the floor with some Earth and Waterbenders who always argue and keep me up all night.

When I finally step off the ladder, I realize that I'm not alone. Sitting on my bunk cross-legged, with a bandage around her neck, is Princess Cathra. She's wearing the same dark crimson tunic and black shorts that she wore at breakfast. Her hair is a little disheveled, but that's to be expected of someone who almost died.

Not knowing what to say, I walk towards my bunk. I bend over to grab my dark duffel bag, and Cathra doesn't say a word. When I stand up again, I realize that her eyes are practically glazed over. She doesn't move.

Weird, but I've seen weirder. My father told me about someone once who could lay so still and not move so well that even his heart stopped after awhile. People thought he was dead until he popped up laughing at them as they crowded around. I don't think Cathra is pretending to be dead, but maybe she's just lost in thought. I shrug.

I begin packing up my scant belongings. I remove my wallet from my bedside locker, making sure that all of the money that I brought is still there. It is, so I shove my wallet in one of my pockets. I take out my grey windbreaker and check the pockets. Inside of the left one is a small spool of wire I keep in case of emergencies. I then unceremoniously throw my jacket on top of my bed.

Cathra still hasn't moved. I consider pinching her to see if she's alive, but I can see that she's breathing. She blinks every thirty seconds, so she's obviously alive. I look down at my duffel bag. I wanted to change into clothes that were more suitable for the long walk, but I obviously can't do that now. My shorts will work for the walk, even though I wanted to change into my pair of slacks. My shirt, however, will not work. It's too hot outside, and the shirt holds too much heat in. My Energybender clothes are totally out of the question, as I'd rather not get them dirty. I can never know when I need to _officially_ and _publically_ be a member of the Energybending elite.

I finally grab a synthetic fabric t-shirt. It's black, and will be very helpful in case I possibly need to stay in the shadows. It's made of a material that absorbs sweat, so it will keep me cool. My father taught me to always plan for everything.

One thing I couldn't have planned for, though, is Cathra sitting on my bed when I got here. I briefly consider the idea of changing in front of her, but decide not to. It wouldn't be proper. I maneuver behind her field of view, and take off my shirt. I throw the discarded shirt on my bunk behind Cathra, and pull the black t-shirt over my head.

"You saved my life."

The voice breaks the silence and startles me. It's a bit raspy, as if the girl is having trouble breathing. She doesn't say anything else. I wonder if she has a damaged larynx now, or some other throat damage. Jeta had some impressive muscles on him, and I honestly would not be surprised if he could dent a steel wall with a punch.

I finish pulling my shirt down over my head. "Ya. And now I have to leave because of it." I reply calmly as I put my discarded shirt into my duffel bag. I've always been a horrible packer. I just threw some clothes into my bag before I came to the camp, and hoped that I had enough to last the duration. Luckily, it turned out I was right.

A few moments of silence go by while I try to finish packing. "I'm sorry." Cathra says. "They shouldn't be punishing you."

I grin sourly. Actually, the punishment doesn't bother me at all. I was taught from a young age that rules are rules for a reason, and no one has permission not to follow them. "I didn't mean that I was sorry for saving you. I'm choosing to leave."

"Where will you go?" Cathra's voice is soft. She still hasn't turned around to look at me. I look past her dark hair at her neck bandage. It's wrapped a bit loose, and looks like she tried taking it off and then gave up. I don't see anything under the bandage and I realize that it's only a precautionary wrapping.

"I have a V.I.P pass to an all-inclusive hotel near City Hall." I think about the white metal coin in my wallet. "I get all my expenses covered for free." I'm probably not supposed to flaunt that knowledge around, but I don't really care. She seems trust worthy enough.

"Can you…" Cathra's voice stumbles over itself. Her back straightens.

I wait for about two minutes for her to finish the sentence. The entire time, every possible scenario goes through my head. I imagine every possibility from her asking me to brush her hair, which is in disarray, to her asking me to give her a few hundred Yuan so she can get a ticket on an airship home. I even contemplate the fact that she has some weird fantasy of her and I riding away into the sunset on a white komodo rhino.

A few more moment of silence pass between us, and then she continues speaking. "After this morning, I have reasons to believe that I have assassins trying to kill me." Her voice has a hard tone to it now, and it's almost like she's speaking to a servant. "You will be compensated greatly for my protection."

I pause in the middle of folding some shirts. Assassins? Compensation? That seems even more absurd of an idea that the komodo rhino concept. I sincerely doubt that Jeta was a paid assassin. I doubt Jeta can even spell the word "assassin", let alone his own _name_. Yet I wouldn't be surprised if some Water or Air general has put out a few hits on Cathra.

A memory of my father pops into my head. He's sitting cross-legged on a ivory disk, his hands on his knees. _Your first job, as an Energybender, will always be your hardest. But it will also be your most rewarding, because you'll learn so much about yourself and the world while you're doing it. Oh, and it'll get you your first real paycheck, too_.

I think about what Cathra said again. Assassins? She's the royal heir of the Fire Nation, next in line to be Fire Lord. Assassins are a constant possibility. I'm surprised she's even at the summer camp without protection, but perhaps she can protect herself well enough. Even more likely, she has guards hidden among the camp staff.

I look at Cathra's back. Her hair falls straight to the center of her spine. Her entire body is rigid, but whether it's with fear or being uncomfortable sitting still for so long I honestly cannot tell. "I'm seventeen. You could hire your own personal army to protect you." I resume folding my clothes, but a bit slower this time. The compensation doesn't really matter to me. It's an absurd concept. I'm too young to be a bodyguard.

"I wouldn't trust them." Cathra says, coolly. Her voice is emotionless, I think intentionally so. "I've fought you before and you saved my life from a raging Waterbender. And you're the only Energybender I know."

Ah, so that's it. I roll my eyes inside my head. To her, I'm just another Energybender mercenary. Well, maybe it's time I got in touch with my culture. Besides, the two days that Cathra has been a part of have been exciting. Plus she's relatively nice, she's a princess, and she's pretty. And she offered to pay me. I put the rest of my clothes in my duffel bag. I put my windbreaker on, and zip it up to my breastbone.

I slide my arm through a strap of my duffel bag, and throw the bag behind my shoulder. I stand and look around my home for the past two weeks, and decide that it's about time I moved on with my life.

"What are we waiting for, Princess Cathra? Let's go." I say.

Cathra turns around and looks at me, and I see a small glimmer of fire in her eyes. I see an even larger flame in her smile.

* * *

Twenty-two thousand fifty seven. Twenty-two thousand fifty eight. Twenty-two thousand fifty nine. Twenty-two thousand sixty.

I keep track in my head of how many steps we've walked so far. I only started keeping track once I lost sight of the summer camp entrance, and that was about twenty minutes after Cathra and I began our hike. I look up and calculate how long we've been walking: about three hours. It feels like we've walked about seven miles so far, which is easier for me than it is for Cathra. I hear gravel crunching behind me, which is my reminder that I am escorting the Fire Nation princess to Republic City.

Cathra, once we left the borders of the summer camp, became extremely talkative. Words now fly out of her mouth like wolfbats from a cave. Perhaps it's the allure of adventure that's now inspiring her. Or maybe she's just delirious from the heat.

"What was it like, growing up an Energybender?" She asks, bringing the total number of questions she has asked to three hundred and seventy four. I've tried to answer every question politely, but I think I've missed a few. She doesn't notice when I politely ask her to stop.

"I learned from an early age how to control myself." I begin, smiling as I remember my early days training under my father. Finally, a question that I enjoy answering! "I learned not to lose track of my thoughts, because a lot of Energybending is based on _intentions_. Like-"

"What intentions?" Cathra asks from behind me.

I step over a large sinkhole in the road before I answer. "Say, for instance, I wanted to burn-" I point to a tree. "That. I would have to imagine the tree burning before I shot an energy sphere at it." One of the lesser-known aspects of Energybending is it's incredible versatility. Energybenders can use their energy for a ton of different things, from plain light sources to heat sources to solid energy to minor healing. We don't talk about it often, because people are scared enough of us as is. But we can do it.

"Would the energy ball look different? Would it look like fire?" Cathra seems excited about the entire prospect. I'm glad she isn't afraid of me. She's one of the few non-Energybenders that isn't.

"Not fire, but it might be tinted orange. Maybe red." I think about the time I managed to paralyze my sparring partner for a few hours by using a cream-colored energy sphere. The energy spheres really are amazing. They're like an extension of the mind. Some Energybenders can even control the direction of the spheres just with their thoughts. If there is an element that's the closest to being the best element to bend, its energy.

Cathra is silent for a few minutes. The only noise I hear her making is her light footsteps and her breathing. I can tell from the frequency of her breaths that she's starting to get tired. In the Fire Nation royal palace, she probably never got the chance to go hiking. Or anything, really. I've heard stories about how strict some noble Fire Nation families are. The children live in a living hell, beaten into perfection by their parents.

I shudder in recollection. My father only laid a hand on me in punishment once. Then again, being an Energybender, he had never even needed to touch me to punish me.

I look up at the sun, and immediately remember to shade my eyes. It's starting to set, which means we need to get off the road. If a bus driver catches us resting or doing anything, we're in trouble. I consider how long I should wait before I propose the idea to Cathra, then I decide I might as well get it out of the way now.

"We need to stop for awhile and rest." I say. I take a few steps to my left and turn towards Cathra. Her black hair is falling around her face, her eyes are glazed over, and her body is covered with sweat. She thought it would be a good idea to wear a sports bra and shorts for the walk. Unfortunately for her, the sun still gives Firebender's sunburn. I can already see that she will have some major burns to deal with by tomorrow.

"O-" Cathra pants. "Okay." She looks into the shaded forest behind me with hunger in her eyes. I turn around and start making my way through the sticks and green shrubs. Every few feet, I see purple berries growing from vines that are almost draped around the bushes, and I resist the urge to eat them. They're poisonous Crystal berries, and they cause serious hallucinations and mess with other brain functions when they're consumed. I ate one, once back home. One was all it took before I was trying to find where the Avatar was hiding in my kitchen cupboard.

After about twenty minutes of walking, I decide we've found the nicest spot we could find. We're right by a freshwater stream, and the trees have low branches that we can climb if we need to. It's in the middle of a dirt clearing, so there will be no need to worry about small animals or insects sneaking up on us to give us grief.

I unceremoniously declare our resting spot by throwing my duffle bag on the ground and sitting on top of it. I look at Cathra, whose eyes are still glazed over. She is carrying a duffle bag a lot like mine, except hers is red and has a gold lock on the zipper. I wonder what she could possibly have in there that requires a lock. Jewelry, perhaps. Maybe top-secret Fire Nation war documents that she reads before she goes to bed with a cup of tea. I honestly don't care what she has in her bag, as long as it doesn't explode.

She puts her bag down a few feet away from me. I hear a faint _clink_ come from inside it. Instead of devoting energy asking what the noise was, I point at the stream. "That water is freshwater, if you're thirsty."

Cathra's eyes go wide, and she swiftly stumbles in the direction of the stream. "I'd never thought I'd be so happy to see water in my life." She says. I roll my eyes. Perhaps if she had listened to me and not drank her entire water bottle within the first thirty minutes of our walk, she wouldn't be having as many problems as she's having now.

As Cathra begins to fill her water bottle, I find a flat patch of grass and sit on it. I take off my shoes and socks and enter a meditation pose. I bring my bare feet up onto my thighs and try to ignore the smell of my sweat. After a few moments of slow and deep breaths, I close my eyes. It takes me a few seconds more than normal to slow my heartbeat and settle my thoughts, but I eventually find my center.

Inside my center, I can feel the energy of my chi spread through my body with every heartbeat. I feel the energy spread through my veins, giving my entire body a comforting sense of warmth. I take inhale deeply. I hold the breath while I visualize the air being changed inside me from gas to pure energy. Eventually my lungs begin to grow warm, and I quickly release the energy in a single exhalation.

A far-away voice snaps me out of my meditation. "How did you do that?"

I slowly open my eyes and see Cathra kneeling across from me. Her eyes are wide and scanning my entire face.

"Do what?" I ask. I feel my heartbeat resuming it's normal pace.

"You took a breath and a white mist came out of your mouth." Cathra looks in awe of me. I notice that sometime in the past ten or so minutes she put a bundle of hair up on her head in a traditional Fire Nation topknot. A golden Fire Nation symbol holds it in place with rigid gold bands.

"Oh," I say. "That. I can Energybend other Elements into energy. Like," I begin. "If you shot a fireball at me right now, I could turn it into pure energy before it even hit me."

Cathra's eyes grow wide. I can see the gears turning inside her head in the typical Fire Nation way; she is trying to think of ways to use my talent. "Why don't you do that all the time?"

I take a deep breath. "Because it takes a lot out of me, and it really requires my mind to be empty." I recall the difficulty I just had turning the air inside me into energy. "I have to emerge myself into my chi, and that can be difficult." I lie. It's not difficult for me at all. I've been a natural at it since I was first Energybending.

But it scares me. It's like throwing myself into an abyss with only a fraying rope keeping me from falling. I don't know when the rope will snap, but I know it won't be able to hold me forever. I don't even know what will happen if the rope were to snap. I had nightmares when I was younger about exploding in a ball of green light, and my skin totally disintegrating, and everything around me dying and burning to ashes.

"Can all Energybenders do it?" Cathra asks.

I shrug with only my shoulders. "I've never met anyone else that can do it." Not even my father, who's one of the greatest masters of Energybending, doesn't know how I can do it. When I was younger and first realized I could change elements into energy, he tried for months to replicate my talent. He brought the other three Energybending masters from the other three Nations, and they couldn't figure it out either.

Once, he brought a young looking man who had pure white eyes. I thought the bald man was blind at first, but he seemed to look inside me. He handed me a piece of rock and instructed me to shift it's element into energy. It took me awhile to do it, because back then I was absolutely terrified of my powers, but I did it. The man told me, in a deep voice that resonated through my mind, not to be afraid of my power.

Then I heard him tell my father later that night that what I was doing was impossible, and I've never forgotten it. I've been scared of myself ever since.

Cathra smiles, totally oblivious to my inner conflict. "That's really cool, Aelius." A warm shiver of energy runs down my spine. The Energybending masters say that since the center of Energybending chi is in the brain, we're much more susceptible to feeling subconscious cues and thoughts. Some people say that we have a "danger-sense" and a "future-sight." It's not uncommon for Energybenders to have visions of the future. No one believes us when we try to explain it to non-Energybenders, but the visions are always correct.

I look up at the sky through a gap in the trees. The sun is starting to fall from the sky, but it's not getting too dark to see yet. "We have a few more miles to go before we reach Republic City." I tell Cathra. I look at her, and see that she's still staring at me. We make eye contact for a few seconds, and then Cathra looks away, her cheeks red.

I feel another small pulse of energy shimmer down my spine. I figured that Cathra had feelings for me from the get-go and that that was a very influential aspect of her offer of employment to me. I just hope that she didn't expect me to fall head over heels for her because she's the princess of the Fire Nation.

I break the awkward silence. "It's up to you whether or not we keep moving or if we stay here for the night." A few of my jackets could be turned into makeshift blankets, and Cathra can make us a fire. Berries can provide food, and if she wants meat I can go hunting. We could survive forever out in this forest, hypothetically.

Cathra looks at the ground for a few moments while messing with her topknot. "We should keep moving."

I smile visibly, but I'm sighing mentally. Walking means more questions.


	5. Part One: The Path (II)

_"The rock in the river's path will always give in to the flow of the water, given enough time."_

_-General Iroh_, Meditations from the Wall

When the gravel road turns to pavement, I know that we've finally reached Republic City. I feel like I'm not presentable to the world, sweaty and dirty and disheveled. If my father were to find out that my first real visit to Republic City was in my camp clothes, he would probably disinherit me.

Then again, he's considering doing it anyways, so maybe it won't be such a big deal.

I rub the bottom of my duffel bag. A hard shape pokes out a part of the fabric, and I grasp it. I hope my armor isn't scratched; I can't have it repaired in Republic City without the gossip columns making a scandal out of it. I'm going to have to change into my armor soon. Where, I don't know. I could go off into the forest, but I could get lost. Perhaps Aelius could go with me. He wouldn't look, I know that for certain. I wish he would, but he doesn't. I just want his attention, really.

I sigh. Aelius looks back at me and smiles. "We're almost there," He says, totally misinterpreting my action. "You'll be in a comfortable bed soon enough, Princess." He gives me a crooked smile that makes me feel like fire is going through my body. _Any bed with you in it_, I fantasize in my head,_ will be the best bed in the Four Nations_.

I equip my best royal tone, and announce "I need to get into better attire before we reach the city." I cringe, desperately hoping that Aelius isn't turned off- not like he was ever turned on- by my station.

Aelius doesn't even blink. "I was going to suggest that," he says. "I should probably change into something more appropriate as well." He groans. "And you'll need me to start carrying your bag, I assume."

I hadn't thought of that, but I nod my agreement. Princess duties come before my fantasy relationship with Aelius. "Please" is all I say.

Aelius slows down, and looks into the forest to our side. It's much sparser than it was a few miles back. And since it's starting to get dark, I will need a light. I can't generate fire and get dressed at the same time. Aelius seems to realize this, as he follows me under the trees. After a few moments, the shadows of the trees vanish, and the entire area is illuminated by a radiant bright light.

I turn my head to see Aelius holding a ball of white light above his hand. He grins, and the light glints on his teeth. "Thought you might want a lantern, but I couldn't find one."

I giggle much more than I normally would. I put my duffel bag on the ground, and Aelius immediately turns his back on me. I roll my eyes. I dig through my bag to find my dress clothes that I normally wear under my armor. The top consists of an elaborate red and burgundy tunic, and the bottom is a matching set of pants.

I take my clothes off, and make sure to find new undergarments to wear. I pick a red set to show my patriotism, though no one will be able to see it under all my clothing. Which doesn't bother me a bit. I pull my dress on over my legs, and then pull the crimson top on over my torso. I throw my old clothes in an unceremonious pile by my duffel bag.

As I pull out my armor, I look at Aelius. He's as still as a statue, his duffel bag at his feet. "You can change behind a tree, if you want." _Or,_ I say inside my head_, you could change right here in front of me and let me see that gorgeous body of yours_.

Aelius nods, and moves his hand out from under the floating energy sphere. The sphere remains in place, and he goes off a few yards away. He moves behind a tree, and I sigh and turn around. One day, I tell myself as I pull out my armor from the bottom of my bag. One day.

Fire Nation armor has changed a lot over the past hundred years. After the end of the Hundred Year War, it became more ceremonial than useful. It changed from having burgundy metal plates to having cloth wrappings and golden tassets. When my father first became Fire Lord, he publically announced how wimpy the new armor design was. He ordered the finest armorsmiths in the Fire Nation to come up with new designs that were fit, he said, for the greatest people in the world.

Fire Nation armor is now a remake of the armor worn during the Hundred Year War, but now the plates are a shade darker, and the trimming of the armor is blood red instead of the crimson it was before. And that's the only two changes they made visually. My father could have just said that he wanted the armor from the last war, but that would have been too easy.

I put the plateskirt on over my pants. Next I lace up my traditional curled shoes which are the stupidest tradition the Fire Nation has. Then I put my chestplate on over my crimson dress shirt. I try to bring my hands around behind my back so that I can tie the knots to keep my armor tight and in place, but it's harder than usual. I typically have servants to do it for me. I swear under my breath.

"I'll assume that means you need help," Aelius says from behind me.

"Yes, please." I respond without turning around. I reach down to my duffel bag and pull out a brush. I might as well brush my hair too.

I feel Aelius pull tight on the strings, and I try to regain the air he squeezed out of my chest. "Loose armor," he says. "Is useless armor." I can practically hear him smiling.

"Armor that keeps you from breathing is useless, too." I respond, still brushing my hair.

Aelius laughs, and loosens the laces a little bit. I take a deep breath, thankful. "That's why Energybenders wear robes. Armor is easy to wear over them, and easy to conceal armor and weapons under them."

I turn around and see exactly what he means. Aelius is wearing a long white robe that almost drags against the ground. The ends of his sleeves are large, but not baggy. His hands pop out of his sleeves without any effort at all, and I can see that the sleeves end exactly and his wrists. Around his waist is a silver belt with a large buckle in the center. Even as amazing as the belt and robe is by itself, it's the robe's prime aspect that makes my jaw drop.

All along the sides of the robe, running along the sleeves, and in intricate patterns on the robe skirt and torso portion of the robe, are brilliant white lines. The lines, on their own, aren't the amazing part. The amazing part about the robe is that the lines are _glowing. _Radiant light shines out from them, and I can see the pulsating movements of energy running up and down the length of the lines.

Gingerly, I reach out and touch one of the lines, and immediately yank my hand back as a surge of energy runs through my body.

Aelius laughs, and for a moment the light shines brighter. His robe illuminates the entire forest around us. "The energy is there for the same purpose as why some Earthbenders wear gloves made out of rocks and why some Waterbenders cover their arms with water. It makes it a lot easier for me to just use my robes as a channel to bend energy, instead of having to generate it on my own."

I poke at a cloth portion of the robe and do not get electrocuted. "I guess people don't hug you when you're wearing those." I grin.

Aelius grins too, and the light reflected from his eyes give him the look of some sort of all-knowing being. "Exactly. And I'm a walking nightlight."

"Can you turn off the energy?" I ask.

Aelius nods, and he squints slightly for a second. The light fades away on his robe, and I can see that underneath where the light was shining from are simple grey lines. "The robe is like an extension of my body. Every Energybender has to earn their bending robe within the first ten years of their life, otherwise they have to make a walkabout across the entire world."

I shudder at the thought, and at the sudden darkness that now has fallen over the entire forest. There is no moon out tonight to illuminate the sky. Aelius sees me shudder and immediately produces another energy sphere to give us light. The one he made before died when he turned off the energy going through his robe.

After a few moments while I put away the clothes I had been wearing before, I stand straight up and put my hands on my hips. I push all of the hair out of my face, check my nails, and use my Firebending to quickly dry all of the sweat from my body.

Aelius grabs my duffel bag in one hand and holds his in his other hand. He then looks at me, smiles, and says, "Princess, it is time for us to enter the city."

Something is off by the tone of his voice, put I can't put my finger on the reason. So instead, I just smile and nod my head.

The city at night is astonishing. Lights shine from every window we pass, giant glowing signs illuminate the tops of giant buildings that scrap the sky at their peaks, and people hurry on their way to unknown destinations.

I look in every store window we pass. Aelius leans over as I look into the window of a dress shop. "Princess, there will be plenty of time to shop once we reach our destination," he whispers in my ear. I feel his warm breath push softly at my hair. I nod and we move on.

I'm beginning to get sick of Aelius's _princess_ routine. He's not my servant, but he's acting like he is. I'm beginning to regret using my royal voices and commands and other things of the sort. I'll need to tell him later that he isn't my servant, just a friend keeping me company on my travels. He does not need to treat me like royalty; if I wanted to be treated that way I could go back home.

I sigh. It's my fault for pulling the princess card, I suppose.

We stop at a street corner to allow cars to go past. I'm still awestruck by the entire city. We wait for the light on the other side of the street to signal that it is safe for us to walk.

Aelius has been relatively silent, and I try to draw him out of it. "Have you ever been to Republic City?" I ask, still focusing on the signal light.

"Many times." Aelius says. "I've lived here for most of my life."

The signal light changes, and we walk across the street. Aelius stays behind me and to the right of me, which is ironic considering I have no idea where we are going. "Where did you live?" I ask.

"Make a right." Aelius tells me.

"Huh?" I ask.

"Turn right here." He repeats softly.

I look to my right. "You lived over there?" I ask. I'm looking at a seedy looking building across the intersection with a sign above the door saying "Wuda Wang's Wonders."

"No," Aelius says. "We have to cross the street _here_."

"Oh," I say softly. I quickly make my way across the road, looking at the cracks in the pavement. I can't believe I could be so stupid as to not know what he meant.

Suddenly, I hear a loud horn blare to my side. I turn around to see a monster of a truck speeding towards me, it's lights shining right in my eyes. I freeze, unsure of what to do. I'm standing as still as a statue. My body doesn't allow me to move. I can't take my eyes off the truck, but I can't get out of the way. Fear makes me tremble.

"Cathra!" Aelius yells.

A bright light, as bright as the illuminates the intersection. My friends back home always made jokes about how when people are dying, they are supposed to go towards the light. I desperately plead to whatever Gods are above me that my death won't be painful.

I hear asharp fizzle, and I feel a huge _thing_ hit me in my side. I'm knocked off of my feet and go flying all the way across the road. I see the truck speed right over the spot where I just had been. Instead of stopping, the thing keeps propelling me through the air. I look over and see that I'm rapidly approaching a hard brick wall.

I scream and have a vision of being smashed against the unforgiving brick wall, my bones shattering as a prelude to my death…

I close my eyes and hear a faint _crack_. I imagine my bones breaking as I die, blood splattering everywhere…

I hit a wall. Somehow I bounce off it as if it was made of rubber. I fall back on top of the thing that hit my side.

I open my eyes and see that I'm staring up at the night sky. I can barely make out the stars because of all the light pollution from the city.

_I'm alive._

_Sweet Agni I'm alive._

I hear deep breathing from under me, and realize my hand is clasping at a handful of white fabric. I turn my head to the side and realize I'm laying on top of Aelius's bending robe.

I feel the heartbeat under my back and realize not only am I laying on top of Aelius's robe, I'm laying on top of Aelius.

I push myself up with one hand and look down at my savior. Aelius has a single bead of sweat running down his face. His light grey eyes are calm, and I can almost see my reflection in his pupils.

"You saved my life, again." I say softly. Gratitude and warmth rush up into my chest.

Before Aelius can say the modest response that I know is coming, I lean over and kiss him on the lips. His lips are warm, and when my lips touch his, I feel a surge of pure energy rush through my body. I love the sensation, so I just kiss him harder. Aelius kisses me back passionately, not completely refusing me like I was worried that he would.

The entire scene takes only a minute, but it feels like an eternity. I wish it _was_ an eternity. When we're done, I lean back. Aelius's face is red, and I can feel the heat in my cheeks. We just kissed, an Energybender and the Fire Nation princess, in the middle of a street. The gossip columns will be ablaze with this event by tomorrow morning.

Aelius and I look at each other for a few seconds, and then I get up off him. I see that he somehow managed to save me from the truck and bring our bags over at the same time. I grin. I don't know how he saved me, and I honestly don't care. It's just one more amazing thing about him.

Aelius gets up and then picks the bags back up, one in each hand. He points to his left down the sidewalk. "We only have a few more blocks to go before we get there." His voice sounds calm at first, but I realize that he stumbles with his words at the end of the statement. It dawns on me that he isn't sure about what just happened.

But I am sure about what just happened. I liked it.

I take a few steps closer to him and look up at him. I realize that he's only a few inches taller than me. I bring my chest up against his. "And then what?" I ask him.

Aelius's eyes seem to grow distant, and his light grey eyes look like storm clouds. "And then we can find some food."

As he leads me to our final destination, I groan inside my head. So close.

Aelius walks down the street, and I catch up to him. Instead of walking behind me, he now walks to my side. People see my topknot and armor and see his white robes and they move out of our way. Some people whisper to each other as we walk by, casting glances in our direction, but no one accosts us.

A few blocks later and the entire scenery changes as though we've stepped into another world entirely. The black pavement on the road has changed into tan brick with intricate designs. The shops have turned into massive gorgeous government buildings and fabulous restaurants. The people have changed as well, and are now wearing elaborate suits and dresses and robes. I see some with metal identification cards hanging from their clothes.

Neither Aelius nor I act any differently in this new scenery. I've been around powerful people my entire life, in my father's court and at expensive dinners and ceremonies. I don't know what Aelius's experience has been around these types of people, but he certainly knows his way around this part of the city.

A few people bow to me as I walk past. Others make a clear attempt to stay far away from me. Others see Aelius's robes and their eyes go wide as they find some other direction to walk. I try not to laugh at all the different reactions.

After awhile, we stop in front of a breathtaking building. It's a huge white marble palace. A white metal wall surrounds it, and I can see the tops of large fountains just inside the palace boundary.

I see pairs of guards patrolling the tops of the wall. They wear brilliant white chestplates with grey trimming over top of robes that look very similar to the bending robes that Aelius is wearing. They all are wearing white helmets that have no holes for breathing or for sight. The helmets are smooth metal. I see no way to take them off or put them on. A brief thought flies through my head and I wonder if the guards are actually machines.

Aelius and I walk along the outside of the wall for a few moments before we come to the entrance. I know it is the entrance because four guards are stationed in front of a huge white and grey door, each one holding a long metal pole with a glowing orb at the peak. They're standing at attention in between two medium sized guard towers. I can see that inside each guard tower are two more guards. One guard in each tower is holding a white bow that looks like it's made out of crystal. I don't see any arrows, so I don't know what the bows shoot.

Aelius approaches the guards with a duffel bag in each of his hands. I hurry behind him. People are sparse on this section of the street, but I still don't want to risk getting separated.

The two guards closest to the massive door silently turn their heads towards Aelius. I shiver, unnerved by the creepy faceless guards.

The guard to Aelius's right extends a white gloved hand, palm up. "Identification, please." His voice is emotionless.

Aelius reaches down to his belt buckle, and pushes the center of it. For the first time, I realize that the silver buckle has the insignia of a clenched fist. The fist sinks into Aelius's belt, and Aelius quickly yanks a small circle of crystal out of the bottom of his buckle. As he places it in the guard's open hand, I realize that all the guards are wearing similar buckles on their belts.

I realize that they're all Energybenders.

The guard clenches his hand, and the glove glows a bright yellow for a few moments. After the glow dies down, the guard hands the crystal disk back to Aelius. Aelius puts it back in his belt buckle as the guard bows at the waist. "Welcome back to the Regia," the guard says emotionlessly and without any change in tone. "Brother Aelius."

Aelius ignores the words of the guard, or at least I think he does. "I have the Fire Nation Princess with me." He tells the guard.

The guard looks at me and bows, although not as low as he did for Aelius. "Princess Cathra," the guard says. "Welcome to the Regia."

I follow Aelius's lead and ignore the creepily-armored guard. A few moments later the guard turns around towards the massive white door. The guard across from him does the same. Simultaneously, both guards extend their free hands towards the door. With a stomp of their back foot, the pull their hands back.

The door vanishes. Just past it I can see a massive courtyard with white robed people walking about. I see one of the fountains, and the water dances around in a colorful display of the entire rainbow. Fantastical berry bushes line the sidewalks, and I see some people sitting on benches in between flower arrangements.

If entering the upper district of Republic City was like entering a new world, entering the Regia is like walking into a dream.

Aelius walks through the now-empty gateway, and I hurriedly follow close behind him. Once we get through the gateway, I stop and turn around just in time to see the guards wave the orbs mounted on top of their poles in front of where the gate had been a few seconds previously. With an effect akin to water rippling, the massive gate comes back into existence.

"How did they-" I start.

"Brother Aelius of the Impera Clan and Princess Cathra of the Fire Nation," a voice behind me says calmly. I turn around and see a young girl with grey hair and light blue eyes standing in front of Aelius. She's wearing a plain white robe with only a single grey line running across her waist. She's bowing deeply. "My name is Cae. If you would like, I will show you to your quarters."

Aelius bows slightly to Cae. "That would be appreciated." Aelius says in a monotone voice. I realize that Aelius must be a member of a powerful Energybending family, and that's why he has such great manners and poise. He must have grown up like I did.

Cae looks at Aelius's and my bags. "Would you like me to carry your bags, Brother Aelius?"

Aelius drops the bags on the ground without answering. Cae doesn't flinch; while the bags are falling she clenches her hands and pulls them towards her chest. The two bags halt mid-fall, and I see small panes of energy form underneath them. Cae brings her fists to her waist, and pulls back on her arms. The bags float towards her and move closer together. Then Cae swings her hands over her head, and both bags are encapsulated in a web of energy.

I try very hard not to gasp, but I think a little one escapes me. All this Energybending is astounding. I'd never even _seen_ someone Energybend until last night, and everything that these Energybenders are doing is probably novice-level stuff.

Suddenly, Cae's eyes grow wide. She throws herself to the ground and lies prostrate. For a moment, I think that she's showing deference to Aelius, but when Aelius turns around, I see his eyes go wide too.

By the time _I _turn around, Aelius is already on one knee. He brings his right arm across his chest in some sort of weird salute, and he bows towards the ground, leaving me standing like an idiot.

A man, who is accompanied by two Energybender guards, is standing before us wearing robes similar to Aelius's, except his robe is glowing with a royal purple light. The man has light grey eyes and light brown hair, just like Aelius. The man has a scar running down the left side of his face, from his left eyebrow to his cheekbone. The man looks at me, tilts his head, and I see the corners of his mouth move in a small smile.

Aelius is the first one to speak. "Master Antonius. It is an honor to be in your presence again." His voice is emotionless.

I realize that I should be kneeling like Aelius is doing, so I hurry to do so. Master Antonius just laughs, and it's a gravely laugh that sounds like it's rarely ever been used. When he speaks, his voice sounds like it's coming from far away. "Ah, Aelius, my son. What brings you here so early?"


	6. Part One: The Path (III)

**Wow! I'm still amazed by how many people are reading this! It makes me happy to know that all my work isn't being wasted! :D**

* * *

_"The smoothest waters hide the roughest currents."_

_ -Councilman Sokka, _Memoirs of Memories

I remain kneeling in front of my father. I can feel the faint hum of energy coming off his robe, and not for the first time, I am jealous of his mastery of Energybending. "I am accompanying the Fire Nation princess, father." I groan inside my head. My father told me, before I left for the Harmony Camp, that if I came home early I would be in _deep_ trouble.

Instead of exploding with fury like I expect, my father remains silent. I don't look up at him yet; I'm supposed to wait until I'm given permission.

"Interesting." My father says. His voice reverberates inside my head. "Is this lovely lady the princess?" He asks. He walks over towards us, and I see his white foot wrappings just barely in my field of vision.

"Yes, father." I reply.

"Very good, my son." My father seems joyful for the moment, which is good. He has been able to switch from being happy to being a tempest of fury in a second ever since mom died. I hope that today he's able to control his emotions. "You may rise."

I rise and look at my father for the first time in over a month. The purple light from his robe casts his face in an eerie light. I look to my left and see that Cathra is standing as well. Her eyes are wide, and she seems mesmerized by my father. He has that effect on people. He's one of the only Energybending masters in the entire world, and people are always in awe of his presence.

My father continues speaking. "How was camp?" He asks me.

I grin sheepishly. "I got kicked out."

My father raises his scarred eyebrow. "For?" Is all he asks.

"I got into a fight with a Waterbender. He was trying to kill the princess." I reply smoothly. My father would know if I was lying, anyways. He told me, when I was younger, that master Energybenders could read minds. I never proved him wrong, but I'm pretty sure he just knows how to read body language and vocal tones. He was the one that taught _me _how to, so it makes sense.

My father looks at Cathra, and I can tell that he is now regarding her in a new light. "Princess Cathra," my father says softly. It's as if he's trying out the name to see how it sounds. "Princess Cathra…" His eyes grow distant, and I can tell that he's recalling a distant memory.

"I met your father, once." He finally says. A small smirk crosses his face. "It was from a distance, however."

I awkwardly look at the bottom of my robe. My father doesn't know that I told Cathra that he was fighting for the Confederacy. He has to give me some leeway, however; I didn't know my father would be at the Regia.

Cathra smiles. "I think my father told me about that." She laughs, and I'm unsure if it's fake or not. "He told me that his airship was singlehandedly shot down by an Energybender."

My father laughs. I look at the two guards to either side of him. They are still unmoving and silent, just like Energy Guardians should be. My father's robe glows brighter, and I refocus my attention on him. "He had quite the nice ship, too."

I cut in, eager to separate Cathra and my father before they start talking more about the war. "Father, I was just about to give Cathra a tour of the Regia. How long will you be staying here?"

My father looks at me, and my eyes unconsciously focus on his scar. "I have a Council meeting in a few minutes." My father crosses his arms in front of his chest. "I think you and I have some catching up to do, so I'll stay for a few more hours after." My father smiles at me, but then his attention shifts to something behind me.

I turn around and see two more Energy Guardians coming up behind us. These Guardians, instead of wearing the white chest plates of the Guardians accompanying my father and patrolling the Regia, wear black plate bodies with purple trimming. Their helmets are black to match, and the visible portions of their robes are the same color purple as the energy that my father is generating.

Cathra takes a few steps closer to me, as though the newcomers scare her. I look towards their belts and see that both of them have a single curved sheathe hanging there.

"Gods," I mutter under my breath. "What are Royal Guardians doing outside of the _Regia_?"

My father must have taken a few steps closer to me, because I can feel the energy emanating off his robe against my back. "It's an important meeting."

The two Royal Guardians stop before our little group. I look at the servant that first approached Cathra and I when we entered. She is still lying prostrate on the ground, having never been given permission to rise. I grin inside my head at the fact that the duffel bags are still enclosed in the energy field. That girl is a good servant.

"Master Antonius," the Guardian on the right says. His voice has a tone of command to it, but no other emotions. "The Council meeting is about to convene. Please follow us."

"Of course." My father brushes past me, and I feel something hard brush against my left side. I feel a slight jerk of my robe, and then my father is past me. I see his hand enter one of the pockets of his robe. "Take me there." My father commands the Royal Guardians. They start walking away.

Once they get about twenty feet away, my father turns around. "Guardians Luis and Cassia, please keep watch over my son and the Princess. After all," I see a twinkle enter my father's eyes. "There are assassins around."

I blink twice, silently telling my father _"well played." _I know the real reason he's having Guardian's monitor us, and I'm grateful for the protection. Cathra obviously is having problems controlling herself, and although I do enjoy her company, any romance is out of the question. I've made mistakes with her, that's for certain. Not throwing her off me when she started kissing me in the middle of the sidewalk was one of the first mistakes.

As my father enters the massive white doors of the palace, I look at Cae, who is still on the ground. "You may rise, attendant."

Cae slowly gets to her feet. "Thank you, Brother Aelius. Would you like me to show you to your room, now?"

I think of how my father brushed past me. "Guardian Cassia will deposit our belongings in my quarters, and Guardian Luis will accompany you and the princess as you give the princess a tour of the Regia."

Cathra looks at me quizzically. "And where will _you_ be?" She asks, putting her hands on her hips.

Unfazed by her attitude, I begin to swiftly walk away. "I have to check on a few things."

Cathra says something in response, but I'm too far away to hear it. I walk around a corner of the Regia.

The Regia is an umbrella term for the massive Energybender complex in Republic City. It serves as an embassy, social center, training complex, home, center of government, and hiring center for the scattered Energybending populace. Most of the Regia is underground. Most non-Energybenders only ever get to see the aboveground portion of the Regia, which are just the palace and the grounds around it.

The palace serves as the hiring center, center of government, and embassy. The massive hallways in the front of the palace serve as gathering places for Energybenders to rent out their services to the highest bidders. Wealthy men and women from all four Nations come to the palace just to stand in the hallways and search for mercenaries to do their bidding.

As one gets further into the back of the palace, Energy Guardians are more prevalent. They regularly patrol the corridors, making sure that non-Energybenders do not go into areas where they are not allowed. Areas like the communications chamber, the map room, the central meditation dome, and every lift entrance are guarded twenty-four hours a day.

Under the central meditation dome (which is in the exact center of the Regia) is the Council chamber, where the four Energybending masters meet every three months. The entrance to the chamber is hidden, but the rumor is that one of the columns contains a secret lift down to the room. That rumor was started because a Royal Guardian guards each of the columns inside the meditation dome.

I pass a few Energy Guardians on my way to one of the side doors of the Regia. I don't like walking through the front halls. People always approach me and ask me how much they could pay for my services. The people that come to the Regia to hire Energybenders don't care a thing about the ages of those that they're hiring. They pay younger Energybenders less money, so sometimes the less wealthy search for the youngest they can find.

I step through an unlocked door into an almost deserted hallway. The only other occupants of this hallway are two men wearing the pure white robes of Energybending novices, and two white armored Guardians. I make my way past the Guardians without being accosted. Guardians randomly check identification chips with complete disregard for the authority that the people they're checking may have. It's annoying, but it keeps infiltrators out of the secure areas.

I pass by several doorways, each guarded by at least one pair of Guardians. I admire the silent guards. They stand in place all day and night, with rare shift changes, just watching everything. The Guardians undergo rigorous training that turns them into deadly warriors, and it seems like a waste to just have them standing around all day. I don't know how much they get paid for their services, but I hope it's a lot.

A few hundred feet of marble columns later, I enter the central part of the Regia. A massive pool of water sits in the middle of the room, and at least thirty robed figures are sitting cross-legged on top of the water. I see faint glows coming from under each of them. The meditation pool requires each Energybender to focus only on maintaining a platform of energy underneath them to keep them from falling into the water. I see a few damp robes and know that some of the present meditators have lost focus a few times.

An odd group suddenly enters the meditation room. Four Royal Guardians, wearing their distinct black armor and purple skirts, accompany a young man who is wearing a pure purple robe. The young man's hood is up, but I can just barely see his eyes.

As soon as I notice him, the young man looks at me. He raises his head, and I am staring back into the pure white orbs inside of his eye sockets.

Suddenly, I'm six years old again, staring into the white eyes of a young man while he asks me to change a rock into energy. I'm trying and trying so hard to do it, but I can't, because I'm scared of giving in to my own power…

I'm jerked out of my flashback. I suddenly feel weak, and I look around for something to hold on to…

I hear voices in the darkness. They whisper disjointed things, and I have to grasp at the words before they drift away from me. They have no particular order and leave me confused. I try to open my eyes to see the sources of the voices but my body doesn't respond to my commands.

_"Will he be ok?"_

_"I want Guardians outside this room, now!"_

_ "Give him another shock."_

_"Please my son, wake up from this."_

_"Ael, please wake up. It's Iuls. You had better not die on me, you son of a tigerdog."_

_"Get your hands off of him."_

_"Shut up you Fire Nation bitch. He's my brother."_

_ "We're losing him, damn it!"_

_"Any more adrenaline injections and we'll kill him."_

_"Bring a Waterbender from the Aang Memorial Hospital."_

_"This has to be contained. Seal the building."_

_"His sister is here. She's coming now." _

"Ael? Hello?"

Slowly, carefully, I open my eyes. I'm staring at a smooth white surface. A cloudy sky?

"Gods, if you're mute I'm personally going to poke your eyes out." A voice tells me. It's soft but commanding. Almost singsong in tone and speed.

I try turning my head towards the voice, but something restrains me from doing it.

"Oh, damn, I forgot the restraints. You aren't even supposed to be awake yet." I hear something scraping against the floor. A head of long silver hair enters my field of view. The face is vaguely familiar. It's young and youthful, and the girl has a button nose that looks just like the one my mom had before she died.

The girl unstraps something that looks like a belt, and I feel a pressure come off of my forehead. "That should do it." She says, practically singing out the words. She stares at me with silver eyes. "Tell me something. Anything."

A memory stirs, and I pull a single word out of the deep depths of my mind. "Iulia?" I try to say, but it comes out more like a whisper.

The girl smiles, and her entire face lights up. I feel something stirring inside of me, and I feel like I've been hit by a wave of positive energy. She cups one of my cheeks in a smooth but firm palm. "Ya, Aelius. It's Iulia."

I see a flash of a silver circlet on the top of the girl's head. A single purple gem is set in the center of the circlet, pulsing gently with light. "How are you?" I manage to ask.

Iulia gently caresses my cheek. She puts her hand to my head. "I'm doing fine, Ael, but you aren't doing so good yourself. What do you remember?"

I try to think about what happened before the darkness, but I all I can remember are two giant white orbs. "Nothing except these two big white things. Eyes, I think."

Iulia raises a grey eyebrow. Her silver eyes are scanning my face like I'm a wounded animal. "Ael, you died. Twice."

I look at my sister like she's crazy, which I think she might actually be.

She is unfazed. "Well, not like dead-dead," she doubles back. "But your heart stopped twice."

I try to move my arms, but I look down and they are restrained as well. "And the restraints are for what?"

Iulia pauses for a moment, and busies herself with undoing the straps. I see the hesitation in her movements. After a few moments of fumbling with a strap, she looks at me. "Ael, you were having convulsions while you were unconscious." She points to a corner of the room, where I see a pile of melted metal.

It takes me a few moments before I begin to understand what happened. "I did _that_?" I ask, incredulous.

Iulia nods. "I was here for one of the attacks. You started glowing bright and energy was pouring out of you like you were trying to become the next sun." Iulia points to a melted part of the wall behind her. "That one almost hit one of the doctors."

I look back up at the ceiling and sigh. My memory is starting to come back to me in full now. "I died." Is all I say.

"Your heart stopped, the doctors said," Iulia repeats. "But they said that your chi was still flowing, and faster than it normally does for Energybenders. Like three times as fast."

I think about my talent for changing elements to energy. I wonder if I had done that at all, and no one wants to tell me. Iulia would tell me, though. She's my twin sister, and when we always tell each other everything. Iulia and I grew even closer after our Mom died. We had to, because our father grew distant. Iulia and I took care of our house and each other. She was upset that she wasn't being sent to the Harmony Camp with me, because she didn't want to be separated for so long.

Iulia comes back towards my head. "You're in the Regia hospital right now. You've been here for a few hours now." She pushes a lock of silver hair behind her ear. "I'll go tell father you're awake."

Before Iulia starts to leave, I grab her wrist. "Iulia, since when does the Regia have a hospital wing?" I ask. The Regia has never needed a hospital before, because the amounts of injuries that happen are minor. Sure, from time to time, someone breaks an arm in training, but the injuries have never been as severe as mine was.

Iulia looks at me, and I see a shadow pass through her silver eyes. "It's new." Before I can ask anything else, she's out the door. I hear muffled voices come from outside of my hospital room. One of them sounds like Iulia. I can't make out what she's saying, but it seems like she's giving orders. My father probably stationed Guardians outside of my room.

I sigh, and look around my hospital room. A dark window is on the wall to my left. A button for the shades (I assume) is close by my hospital bed. The entire room is white and has smooth surfaces. It has a very modern design to it.

I look down at myself. I notice that I'm only wearing a pair of white pants. I see a series of red marks in the center of my chest, where I assume the doctors tried to revive me.

Over in a corner, draped over a chair, is a white robe. A fold of white cloth is on the floor by it. I slowly get up from my hospital bed and test the boundaries set by my condition. I take a few steps towards the chair, and am relieved when I don't stumble or have to grasp for something to support me. I smile to myself. So far, so good.

I reach the chair and pull the robe over my body. It's made of silk, and it feels smooth against my body. I lean over and unfold the cloth that was on the ground. I can easily tell that it's meant to wrap around my midsection. I wrap it tightly, and realize that it serves the purpose of a belt.

I grin. Energybenders are a few hundred years behind in fashion. Whereas the other Nations are wearing slacks and t-shirts, we're still wearing mystical robes and hoods. We're ahead of the other Nations in everything else, but we lack modern clothing. I guess we can't be _completely_ perfect.

I arc my back behind me and raise my arms above my head. I'm starting to lose the cloudy head that I had when I first woke up. A few more minutes and I will probably be able to find my way back to my quarters.

But first, I want to look out the window. I walk back over to my hospital bed and press the white button on the wall. In response, the black layer covering the window rises up, and the outside of my hospital room is slowly revealed to me.

I smile when I look outside, because I'm not really looking _outside_. I'm looking underground. Outside my window is a cavern about a quarter of the size of Republic City. The only way I can see the other side of the massive expanse is because covering the ceiling and walls are huge glowing crystals, each glowing different colors.

The very sight of the crystals makes me smile. Hundreds of years ago, the cavern used to be a light crystal mine. After Republic City was built above the mine, it was shut down because no one wanted crystal miners taking up half of the world's capitol. It lay untouched, but not unlit, for over a hundred years.

When people began to Energybend, we realized quickly that we would become a feared portion of the population. So, the four most influential men and women that had been granted with the power to manipulate light met together and decided that they would pool their money and resources together. The palace, which is probably two miles above me right now, is the _visible_ result.

The Master's Council has never officially given the cavern a name, but everyone just refers to it as the Elysium. Why? Because it's our paradise. The cavern contains a simplistic city, and it has all the comforts of the world above. Only a quarter of the Elysium floor has structures on it. They all are styled similarly to the Regia palace: white with smoothed edges and plenty of columns. In addition, like the Regia miles above us, Energy Guardians patrol the streets. No one pays attention to them though. They're just a formality.

I look at the people a few hundred feet away from me. The Regia palace is connected to the Elysium by a huge elevator. The elevator is probably a few hundred feet in diameter, and it brings down large amounts of people and resources on a scheduled basis. Other smaller elevators come down from the palace as well, but they are only for authorized personnel.

A knock sounds at the door. I hear a muffled voice.

"Come in." I say, turning around. I think I recognized my father's voice, but I'm not sure.

The door slides open, and I'm correct. My father strides through. One look at his face, however, alerts me that something is wrong.

Two looks at the Royal Guardians that follow him into the room, and I'm certain.

"Father-" I start to ask.

"Aelius." My father says, his voice grave and determined. His eyes are cold and emotionless. "We need to talk."

* * *

A/N: Ok, I know a lot of stuff is happening in my chapters, and I promise to start to slow stuff down for you guys. I'm going to try (I promise!) to write shorter chapters. It'll be hard for me, because I have so much plot that I need to throw in and so many details that I need to add, but I'll do it for you guys!


	7. Part One: The Path (IV)

"_The flow of life is as the river; it has its rapids and it has it's smooth waters. But never does the water stop. Always in motion, life is."_

_ -Master Antonius of Clan Impera to his son, Aelius of Clan Impera_

The eternal lights of Republic City seem to do nothing to illuminate the dark streets of the Crescent Moon district. Making sure to keep my hood up and my hair hidden from sight, I walk past all the seedy bars and "motels" that make the Crescent Moon the seediest and most corrupt district in all of the City. Sitting along the cracked sidewalks are the occasional drunks, the beggars, and the women who have to sell their bodies to make enough money to eat.

I step over a man who is either passed out or dead. In the Crescent district, one is as likely as the other. The people living in the upper districts don't understand what exactly causes the Crescent district to be as dark and disgusting as it is, and most of them don't care. The President has tried to put people in charge of cleaning it up, but all the money that is set aside for the district disappears into the dark pockets of the corrupt officials that preside over the district.

I hear laughter and breaking glass through an open door as I walk by. There was a time when I would have gone inside and see if anyone needed my help, but those times are long gone.

I keep walking. I look down at the cracks in the sidewalk, and make certain not to make eye contact with anyone walking by.

"Hey, man, you want some of the good stuff?" A man on the sidewalk asks me. I look up for a second and see the dirty man holding out a thick bundle of leaves. "Cheap, only thirty Yuan."

I keep walking. I tried some of the drugs the dealers offer before, a few years back. After once or twice, I realized that the high wasn't worth the side effects. It took me two months before the cravings went away. Since then, I never indulged myself in the hallucinations that I could get lost in.

A large car drives over the mottled street. A few dirty hands are sticking out of the car's broken windows, brandishing dusty bottles of a yellow substance. I make certain to stay out of their way. Cars hit people a lot here. Drunks do not pay attention to massive objects flying their direction. The people that give up on life don't bother waiting for cars to kill them, though. They use knives.

I wait under a streetlamp for a few cars to go by. The lamp flickers a few times, and then the light bulb finally dies. Through sheer force of will, I do not sprint across the street. I continue waiting for the cars to go by, and once they're all gone, I cross the street.

I hear footsteps following me.

I do not speed up my steps. _We're just going in the same direction_, I tell myself. _Nothing to be worried about_.

I reach the other side of the street, and I hear the footsteps quiet down behind me. Quickly, I turn around, and see a tall figure walking away from me.

I sigh. That could have ended badly.

I turn back around, and return my hands back to the pockets of my jacket. I shift uncomfortably as I turn a corner. I quickly scan both sides of the street. It looks normal, and no one gives me any attention, so I keep walking down the street. In the distance, I see a large yellow sign that says "Golden Dragon Café." I almost jump with joy, but I restrain the emotion.

I do, however, quicken my pace now that my destination is in sight. A few beggars ask me for money, and more than one try to tell me their sob stories. I've heard every lie in the Crescent Moon, every attempt for sympathy. If I were to tell my story, and sit on the corner like them, I wouldn't get any more attention than they do.

I realize, after a few streetlights, that I'm rubbing the silver ring on my right hand with the side of my thumb. A memory comes back to me, of screams and the sound of convulsing muscles.

Without thinking about it, I close my eyes. "Go away, go away, go away!" I whisper under my breath. _Not now, not now, _I silently beg. I can't start crying in the middle of the sidewalk. Someone will see my weakness.

I open my eyes. I don't feel any wetness on my face, so I keep walking. I don't look anyone in the eye. I do not rub my ring. I do not respond to anyone. I just keep walking.

"Hey, girlie," I hear a voice say. Without thinking, I turn around. A tall man stands there, a yellow grin pointed at me. He's wearing a torn shirt, and from seven feet away I can smell the alcohol on his breath and clothes.

With a trembling hand, I feel for my hood. It's down. I realize that it must have fallen down when I turned to look at the man that followed me across the street.

The man takes a few steps closer, under the yellow streetlamp light. I see unshaven stubble on his face, and a nose that looks like it's been broken more than a few times. "What say you and I go back to my place," he slurs out.

"N-n-n-no thank you," I stutter out. Gods, not now. Please don't do this to me.

The man smirks, and pulls a small object out of his pocket. He flicks a wrist, and I see a metal glint flick out. "How about we just enjoy ourselves right here, then?" He brandishes his knife. "Plenty of space."

I take a few steps back, and then turn and run. I feel my hair play out behind me. I don't bother to put my hood back up; everyone's already seen me. I pass by a dark alleyway. It looks deserted, so I turn back around and run into it.

My footfalls make loud echoes against the dirty concrete. I run by a disgusting dumpster, and I hide behind it out of view of the alley entrance.

I wait a few minutes. I close my eyes, and take a few deep breaths. That was a close call. I don't hear anything now, except the normal sounds of the district. I stand up from my hiding spot.

And I feel a rough hand grab my neck.

In the darkness, I see the outline of the drunk man. "Knew I'd find a dirty girl like you waiting for me. They always do."

I try to struggle out of his grasp, but he is too strong. He's not choking me completely, so I can still breath. "Just let me go, I'll give you anything. Please!" I beg.

The dark man laughs, and I hear the unzipping of a zipper. I see the outline of his knife as the hand holding it begins to unzip my jacket.

My heart begins to pound. I look around for some sort of escape from this nightmare, but I don't see anything. I look in the man's dark eyes and see only his lust. Desperation drives people to do insane things, and this man is desperate.

He takes my jacket off, and leans back to admire his handiwork. He probably can't see anything because of the darkness, so he's probably drunkenly imagining what my shirt is covering.

The man lessens his grasp on my neck. "My, you're a beauty, aren't you girlie?"

I don't answer, because I'm feeling a familiar feeling come over me. My body almost trembles in fear, and I feel one of my hands come up of its own accord.

My fingers move like spider legs, and the man lets go of my neck. I hear gurgles coming from his throat, and he is thrown a few feet away from me.

I raise my arm, and the man rises into the air. The man starts to scream, but I bring up my other arm and twist it. The man's jaw slams shut with an audible _clack_.

I feel the power run through me. "You have no idea." I say. I feel the darkness in my voice as my power runs through me. I take a deep breath as through I can inhale the darkness from the alleyway. I feel the man's blood run through his body. It's just like heavier water. I can feel his muscles under my control, and I can feel his heat beating as fast as a lop-eared rabbit.

I smile. Moving my arms with jerking motions, I bring the man closer to me.

"Please," he drunkenly begs. "Let me go!"

I look at the hand still holding the knife. A thought comes to me, and I imagine making the man slit his own stomach open. I imagine the rich red liquid pouring out of him in retribution for what he almost did to me…

I blink a few times. A red haze seems to fade away from my vision, and I look at my hands. They begin to tremble. The man drops to the dirty ground, gasping like a fish.

I ignore him, and look at my hands. I feel something grasp at my stomach, and I look down and see that nothing is there.

_Gods, I almost did it again. _

I sprint out of the alleyway and run all the way down the sidewalk. I feel tears running down my face, and I try to wipe them away. But they keep coming. I try to fight them, but they keep pouring down my face.

I make it to the clean handles of the Golden Dragon Café, and I throw open the door. Through my blurry vision, I see several round tables spread across the Café. Only a few people are here this time of night. One of them, an old man wearing a tattered yellow apron, is sweeping the floor. He turns to look at me, a smile on his face.

When he sees me, his smile vanishes. "Terumi," he says, concern in his voice. He drops his broom and hurries over to me. "What happened?" He asks?

I fall into his arms, sobbing. I try to form words, but they aren't coherent. The old man just pats me on the back, saying words in an attempt to comfort me, but they don't work.

I realize that the man has led me over to a table in a corner of the Café. He snaps his fingers and orders someone to bring him a pot of tea. I can't see anything through my blurry eyes, so he helps me sit down in a chair. I put my head on the clean wooden table, and I continue sobbing. I'm a monster. A witch. I wanted to hurt that man instead of just running. I wanted to…

I wanted to kill him.

I sob harder.

"Teru," the old man says. His voice is old and wise. "The flying bison that does not shed in the heat will die from the heat." I hear the comforting noise of flowing water, and I raise my head an inch in order to see the old man pouring a dark liquid into two teacups. "Now shed your fur, and tell me what happened."

I move into an upright position, and wave my hand. The tears float free of my face and fall onto the floor. "A man," I start. My voice is still wavering, but I try to keep it steady. "Chased me into an alley."

"Say no more, my child." The old man says. "Drink your tea."

I do as he commands. The tea tastes strong, and it makes me blink a few times. I drain my entire cup in a few swift gulps. I place the cup back on the saucer. "I hurt him." I say more to myself than the man.

The old man nods. "If you did not," he says firmly. "He would have hurt you, and abused your womanhood." He looks at me with firm golden eyes.

"I wanted to…" I start to say, but the man silences me with his eyes.

"You would have had every right to, my child," The man sips from his tea. "But you did not."

I remember the feeling of the drunken man's muscles under my control. "I'm a monster. I'm a danger to everyone I'm around." The words start pouring out of me like a torrent of water. "To you, to everyone in Republic City-"

"My child," the old man says firmly. I look at him as I feel the tears running down my face. "You have a gift." He refills my teacup, and I look down at my still-trembling hands.

"Everyone in this world can bend a certain element," the man begins to say. "There have been no nonbenders for the past forty years. Are we all monsters?"

"No! You're not. My parents weren't." I fight back the memories of my parents.

"The Gods gave you the gift to bend the waters of the oceans and of life itself. That in itself is a blessing." The man takes a sip of his tea.

"You can shoot lightning," I begin to say. "And control fire. I need to be around water in order to use my powers. You just create fire out of nowhere."

The old man smiles at me. "Fire burns, lightning kills. Water heals. How am I not a monster, when compared to a young girl like you?"

I look down at my reflection in my tea. I see my mother in my soft face. "You aren't."

The old man reaches over and places his wrinkled hand on mine. "If I am not, then you are not as well."

I look up at the old man. His orange eyes remind of the comforting heat from a fireplace during the coldest months. I bring my hands to my chest and bow in my seat. "Thank you, Admiral Sozin. Your wise words bring comfort to me."

The old man laughs, his frail body moving up and down with youthful energy. "My days as an Admiral are long past, my young friend. Giving comfort to friends is a lot simpler than serving in the Navy."

I look around the Café. On the walls are gorgeous hand drawn pictures of the Fire Nation islands and the walls of Ba Sing Sae. I even see a picture of a dragon flying into a sunset. The people in the Café pay little attention to the pictures. They're much more focused on the superb tea and the safety that the Golden Dragon has to offer.

The man looks at me as I look around the Café. "You could stay here for tonight, if you wish. I can imagine if you don't want to sleep on the streets, tonight."

I look at the old man. I've known the Admiral since I was born, but never has he shown me as great kindness as tonight. "Are you sure that would be ok?" I ask, not believing his offer.

The aged Admiral closes his eyes and nods. "I can have Leau Song prepare a cot for you in one of the spare rooms upstairs."

I think for a while about the offer. "Can I help around the kitchen?" I ask the Admiral.

The man looks up at me. "You cannot just accept my gift, can you Terumi?" He sighs. "You can clean the floors. I will bring you a bucket."

The Admiral stands up and begins to walk away. As he places his hand on the doorknob to the kitchen, he turns around. "Terumi," He says.

"Yes, Admiral?" I ask.

"I'm proud of you for not killing that man." He says solemnly, and then he opens to the door to the kitchen.

As he walks through the door, a little voice speaks out inside my heart.

_You monster._

In my dreams, I see my mother. Her silky brown hair runs down her back in a single braid. She walks across a icy lake towards me, her white dress flowing around her like water. I try to open my mouth and speak, but I can't let out a single word.

"I love you, Terumi." Her voice sounds like it's underwater. "I love you, Terumi."

I open my eyes and jerk myself awake. I know how the dream ends, and I don't want to spent another night curled up in a ball crying.

Instead, I roll over and try to go back to sleep. The thin blankets that the Admiral gave me keep the cold Republic City night from my skin.

"Its time you paid your money, old man."

I hear a gruff voice from downstairs. Then I hear the Admiral's calm and authoritative voice.

"I do not owe you anything. Unless you would like some tea, get out of my shop."

I imagine the scene downstairs. It's probably one of the gangs that force "protection money" out of shop owners in the district. They have probably brought some muscle to back them up too, because everyone knows that Admiral Sozin is a masterful Firebender. Its why the Café is a place of solace for so many.

Without thinking,I immediately fumble for my clothes in the darkness. I pull on my shirt and pants and hurry downstairs.

The sight is exactly what I expected. Two huge men are flanking Admiral Sozin while a smaller one orders him to pay his "protection fee." The Admiral is wearing a light yellow robe, and his grey hair is up in a traditional Fire Nation topknot.

One of the muscular men looks at me. "Boss," he says in a deep voice. "Problem."

The small man looks around the Admiral at me. The Admiral turns as well, and his eyes go wide. "Terumi, go back up stairs!"

The small man looks at me with sharp green eyes. "Well hello, dolly? Come to save your grandpop?" The small man flicks a grey finger, and I realize his hands are coated with stone. "Gentleman, make the girl feel comfortable."

The two massive men start walking towards me. One of them coats his hands with flame, and the other one summons a sphere of air to his side.

I look around the Café. My eyes lock onto the bucket of water that I used to clean the floor with earlier. I summon the water to my hands just in time to block a fireball coming towards me.

The Airbender directs a gust of wind towards my legs, and I jump up over it. I make a circular motion with my arms, and the stream of water swings around towards the Firebender's head. He ducks, but the Airbender gets slammed in the cheek. He returns with a blast of air, and I take most of it in the center of my chest.

I get knocked back against a table, and I see the Admiral trading blows with the small man. Before I can come to his aid, I twirl off the table to avoid getting hit with a stream of fire that breaks the table in half.

I summon my water back to me, and I begin to spin it around my chest in a circle. I move my hands in circular arcs, and two whips of water extend from the ring around my body to surge towards the two large men.

The Airbender dodges it, and the Firebender merely takes the blow on one of his arms. I see my whip cut his forearm, but he doesn't make any acknowledgement of pain.

I continue attacking with my whips, making long sweeps in both men's direction. They dodge them all as I realize how outmatched I am.

The Firebender kicks towards me, and a powerful blast of fire hurtles towards me. I duck, but the motion causes me to lose control of my whips. The water drops to the wooden floor. The Airbender takes advantage of this, and summons a gust of air to lift me up in the air and slam me against the ceiling.

My vision blacks out with the impact, and I fall to the floor. I slowly get back up, and I see both men towering over me.

One of them kicks me in the ribs. The other just laughs. "Stay down, doll, unless you _really _want to get hurt."

I groan, and my head falls down to the wood. The wood is damp, and I realize I'm lying in a growing puddle of blood. _My _blood. I weakly run my hand over my head, and I feel a patch of damp hair. I bring my hand to my face and realize that I must have cut my head when I hit the ceiling.

I groan, and my vision starts to grow blurry. I see the two men grab Admiral Sozin from behind. I reach a hand out in a feeble attempt to stop them.

A drop of blood rises in front of my eye. It's only a single drop, but the thick liquid seems to call to me.

_Do it_. A voice inside me whispers. _You can save him._

I close my eyes. I can't. I'll hurt someone again.

A memory stirs, and I remember Admiral Sozin's words a few hours earlier.

"_My child, you have a gift." _

I open my eyes, and the world takes on a tint of crimson. I stand up, feeling the power surge through my body again. I raise a hand, and the men holding Sozin freeze.

I raise my other arm, and I flick my wrists in opposite directions. The two men crash into opposing walls, the Airbender knocking down a few pictures on impact.

The small Earthbender looks at me. I see a knife in his hands, and it's pointed towards Sozin's chest. "Now, dolly, we were only messing around, ok?"

I think of the knife the drunken man had threatened me with earlier. He was only trying to "mess around" too.

I raise a hand, and make a fist. The man holding the knife rises into the air. His body trembles under my power. "It's all fun and games," I say. I feel the power coursing through my veins, and I feel the man's every breath and muscle under my command.

I make a shoving motion, and the man flies out the golden doors of the Café. "Until someone get's hurt." I finish. The crimson tint vanishes from the world, and I fall to my knees. The world turns black, and I pass out.

But not before I hear the Admiral curse under his breath. "My child, my child." He says. "We really have to work on your sense of humor."


	8. Part One: The Path (V)

"_Do you think that fog will delay the invasion?" _

_"That fog is the invasion!"_

_-Master Katara to Councilman Sokka prior to the Invasion of the Day of Black Sun_

I wait for the police officers to walk past my hiding spot before I move. Trusting their heavy footsteps and clanking armor to cover what little noise my padded feet will make, I sprint down the corridor. My weapons, carefully strapped to my belt and my back, don't make any noises that give me away. I'm grateful.

I come to a corner of the hallway, and quickly shuffle up against the closest wall. I pull a small handheld mirror out of a tight pocket, and slowly move it around the corner. I don't see anyone, and so I quickly move from my position and silently run down the hall.

I pass doors with large keypads besides them, and I keep idle track of the signs above each door. _O-H-7, O-H-8, O-H-9, O-H-10, O-H-11…_

I finally reach my destination. I come to a stop before the door labeled O-H-17. I pull out a small metal bowl from another one of my pockets and put it up to the door. I place my ear against the rounded bottom and hold my breath.

Inside I hear only the hum of electricity, and a lot of it. I grin under my dark face wrappings.

From a leather pouch hanging from my belt, I take a short metal rod. I feel my knives try to pull towards the rod, attracted to it's magnetic properties. If that's not a test that this magnet works, I don't know what could be. Except, perhaps, the magnet fulfilling it's role in my escapade.

I look at the keypad besides this door. Rather than fiddle with the letters and numbers displayed on the buttons, I hold my magnetic rod up to it. The metal buttons rattle, trying to break free of their casings and stick themselves to the rod.

After a few seconds, the lights on the keypad flicker and die out, and the door slides open.

Not for the first time, I grin. I half wish someone had been around to see that trick work. The other half knows that if anyone had seen that, I would be dead right now.

I step inside the dim room. The only light comes from a glowing orb that seems to be suspended in the center of the room. Inside of the orb, I can see a faint shadow, but it's impossible for me to make out exactly what it is.

The orb ripples as if it senses my approach, which I know to be impossible. More likely, it's challenging me to find some way to get rid of it. Well, that's impossible too. They say that after enough solo missions, Agents of the Mist can go a bit crazy. That's why almost no one ever stays an Agent for more than five years. The job's dangerous enough without imagining voices or dealing with paranoia.

I take a few steps closer to the orb. I resist the temptation to touch the energy sphere. I've been electrocuted enough by Energybenders to know how powerful those orbs can be. I've also broken into enough Energybender facilities to know how dangerous their security systems can be.

Energybenders can do a plethora of different things with their energy spheres. They can control their direction with a flick of their wrists, they can increase and decrease the intensity of the spheres with a few hand motions, and they can even create permanent spheres.

For the past seven years or more, Energybenders have gotten into the habit of putting their valuables inside of stationary energy spheres. For over four years, people tried to figure out how to get inside the spheres. A large majority of the world, including Energybenders, is convinced that it is impossible to break into an energy sphere without being killed by the electricity.

I bring out two thick adhesive disks from a pouch. A short wire is inbetween them. I pull one of the disks away from the other, and I hear a _click-click-click _of the wire spool inside the disk being turned. I go to one of the walls and stick a disk on the metal surface. With the other disk feeding out more wire behind me, I go to the other wall.

Carefully, so as not to have the wire touch the sphere, I put the disk in my hand against the wall. I push a button on the disk, and a faint red light blinks from a tiny bulb on it.

I hold my breath. Now for the tricky part. I slowly slide the disk in my hand against the wall over to behind the energy sphere. The second the wire touches the sphere, I let go of the disk. The red light on the disk closest to me intensifies as the wire channels the electricity from the orb into the battery in the disk.

I let out my breath. Success.

I see the sphere start to flicker, and I quickly put a hand below the fading orb to let the object that had been trapped inside it fall into my hand. I look down at it and grin again.

"What in the-"

The voice behind me is my only warning before a spiked metal whip shoots towards the place my head had just been. Upon hearing the voice, I immediately bent my back backwards as far as it could go, and got a nice upside-down view of an armored outline looking at me.

Using my momentum, I make a pushing motion with my empty hand towards the Metalbender. A gust of air is channeled towards him, and he brings his arms up in front of him in an attempt to brace himself.

His defense doesn't work, and he is slammed against the door opposite the dark room. While he's dazed, I slip the object in my right hand into a pouch, and securely fasten the pouch to my belt. I've risked too much to get to this point to lose my prize during my escape.

I sprint out of the room, not bothering to retrieve the wire contraption I used to drain the energy sphere. I hear footsteps coming from both ends of the hallway, which tells me that the guard had somehow called in backup. Or I triggered some other kind of alarm. Both are equally possible.

I look down the way I came. No guards yet, but they'll be coming. Oh well. I push my palms behind my back, and two gusts of air begin to propel me back the way I came. My padded shoes easily slide across the floor, allowing me to move on the smooth surface like an ice skater.

I reach the end of the hallway, and slow down just long enough to turn the corner. The moment I do, I hear shouts, and I see five grey figures moving into my way. They all adopt similar fighting stances. Legs spread, right forearm aimed in my general direction, and a grim determination on each mans face.

Simultaneously, they all take a single step forward and make a punching motion with their left fists. Five metal whips shoot out in my direction. Before they reach me, I duck and continue sliding along the ground. I spin in a circle with my right leg outstretched, and I direct a wave of wind to knock the Metalbenders off their feet.

I leap over their dazed expressions.

A few minutes later, I'm out of the high security facility.

I stop gliding and alight silently on a tall air intake unit. Carefully, I stow my black glider away on my back. It's a redesign of the one the ancient Airbending Nomads used to use. It is lighter, and now it opens without a sound. Airbending Agents of the Mist have black gliders, while the Airbenders that are fighting openly against the Fire and Earth Republic have light blue gliders that are heavier and have places to store bombs and missiles.

I peer down the intake unit. The fan is off, like usual, and I see a dim light at the bottom of the shaft. I hear the tapping of a pen against a piece of paper at the bottom of the shaft. The metal walls must be magnifying the noise.

Gracefully, I fall down the large tube. I'm careful to use only a small air cushion to lower myself; anything larger will make enough noise to alert everyone for about a mile that something weird is happening.

I finally softly land on the bottom of the shaft. In front of me is a hooded figure. His face is obscured from my view, but I know that even if I could see it it wouldn't be of any use. He would be wearing a mask.

"Do you have it?" The hooded figure says in a raspy voice that hints of great age.

"Yes, Minder Hawk." I remove the leather pouch containing the stolen object from my belt and place it in the Minder's outstretched hand. His hand, unlike his voice, is young and firm.

The hand, and the pouch, vanishes into the Minder's sleeve. "Your next assignment is to locate Subject Alpha One." He tells me, his voice emotionless.

I blink a few times. I'm speechless. My stomach feels like it's been hit with a hammer.

"Alpha One?" I ask. I feel rage boil up into my throat. "I've been an operative for over five damn years, and I get assigned the biggest dead end mission-"

"Agent Tengfei!" The Minder says sternly. "Silence!"

I slam my fists against my thighs, and a gust of wind blows around me. I take a few deep breaths, and look at the Minder. "Yes, Minder Hawk."

Minder Hawk is silent for a moment, and then speaks softly. "You are being assigned to Subject Alpha One because you are the only operative who's loyalty to the Confederacy is unquestioned. Your devotion to the cause is why you are being assigned the most difficult of missions. Your expertise and cunning mean that you will make and extort connections that no other operative can even think of.

"This will be your hardest mission," Minder Hawk says solemnly. "And if you can kill Subject Alpha One, the Confederacy can win this war."

I close my eyes and think for a few seconds. When I open them, the Minder is unmoving. "You're asking me," I say slowly. "To kill the Avatar."

The Minder doesn't respond.

"If I do this," I say quietly. "It will be my last mission."

"If you do this," Minder Hawk says, his voice barely more than a whisper. "it will be the last death of this war."

I sigh. "Dump the intelligence at the normal site." Without any other words, I jump in the air and kick downwards with my feet. I rocket back out of the intake pipe, and I use my glider to fly away into the dark cityscape. I feel the cold breeze around me, hear the noises of the busy city below, and think to myself.

Only two people in the entire city know that two people in an intake pipe just decided to change the course of the world.

As the cold night breeze blows against my face, I realize that only one person in the entire world is as scared as I am as to what that change will bring.


	9. Part One: The Path (VI)

"_When it happens, you'll have to be ready to serve your people, Aelius."_

_ "But doing _what_, dad?"_

_ "You'll know, my boy. You'll know. It's what your entire life has been leading up to."_

_ -Master Antonius of Clan Impera, speaking to his son Aelius of Clan Impera _

* * *

I tap my fingers against the side of my chair. "Can I help you?" I ask, venom dripping from my voice.

"Oh, no, _Princess_ Cathra." The silver haired girl with the stupid silver circlet and her even _stupider_ purple gem setting looks at me. If she was a Firebender instead of an Energybender, I would expect to see fire in her eyes. Instead, her grey eyes merely seem to glow with anger. "I just wanted to let you know that my brother is awake now."

My heart flutters inside my chest with complete disregard for my anger. "Aelius?" I ask.

The silver haired girl rolls her eyes at me. "That is my brother's name." She crosses her arms across her chest. She's wearing a simple silver dress with elaborate metal patterns running around the throat. Her voice is soft, but I can hear the distain for me in every word. I look at her visible skin, at the curves of her face, at the muscles showing in her arms and under her tight dress. This girl looks like she would be just as comfortable breaking an arm as she would be modeling.

I'm immediately jealous of her.

The young women snaps her fingers at me. "Hey, Princess, did you hear me?"

I snap my eyes away from her figure. I would kill to have a body like hers. "Of course I did."

Aelius's sister rolls her eyes. "Firebenders are such bad liars." She says under her breath. I pretend not to notice, but it's hard. _Very _hard. She continues speaking to me like I'm a toddler. "Aelius is speaking with our father right now, about some important 'man to man' stuff. It probably involves _you_ somehow, but I honestly don't care."

I grimace, and imagine slapping Aelius's sister with a fire-propelled slap. I would enjoy making a bruise on that sculpted face of hers. "When will I be able to see him?"

Iulia, I think her name is, leans forward. "What makes you think he wants to see you?" She asks. It's amazing, I realize, how such a nice looking person can be so angry and mean.

I swallow my anger. "Because I care about him."

Iulia pushes a lock of hair behind her ear. "Oh, that's right." She says. "You're the one he saved from the Waterbender." She leans back, and I realize that she is taller than I am. It's somewhat intimidating. "Let's make one thing perfectly clear," she says, the words hissing out of her mouth like a snake.

"Aelius is my twin brother. We helped each other deal with our mother's death. We've both seen each other broken, and we've both helped each other pick up the pieces and put them back together. We have lived in the shadow of our famous father," she leans forward, voice hushed and swift. "_Master Antonius_, for all of our lives. We have both been fighting since before we learned to walk.

"Want to know the only thing that separates Aelius and I?" She asks. She doesn't wait for my answer, and merely continues speaking. "My brother has restraint. I, on the other hand, have none. Meaning that if you so much as dare hurt my brother in any way, shape, or form, or even give me the reason to _think _that you will, I will personally pump you full of so much energy that you'll pop like a balloon and they'll have to scrap your royal pieces off the walls."

She leans back. I'm at a loss for words. Honestly, if another Fire Bender had said anything to me like what she said, it would require that I challenge them to an Agni Kai. No one back in the Fire Nation would even _imagine_ saying those types of thing to a member of the Royal Family. The fact that a seventeen-year-old girl wearing a grey dress and with silver hair just did is mind-blowing.

"Mistress Iulia," A voice says from the doorway. Iulia and I both jerk our heads in it's direction at once. A white robed attendant stands under the doorway, his white hair matching his robe perfectly. I stand up from my seat.

Iulia takes a few breaths and steps back. "Yes?" She says, her voice sweet and kind and the complete opposite of how it had been a few moments before. "How can I help you?"

"Mistress Iulia, your father has asked me to instruct you to give Princess Cathra a tour of the Impera estate." The attendant bows to Iulia, who nods her head.

Iulia turns to me with a wicked smile on her face. "Oh, this will be fun!" I can see the fire in her eyes. Something tells me that she's as furious about this turn of events as she is sickly pleased by it. "I get to have some girl time with the Princess of the Fire Nation!"

I try to think of something to say, like that I have some kind of terminal illness that will kill me in the next five minutes, or that I have to use the bathroom and may not come out until tomorrow, but Iulia grabs my arm before I can think of a good enough excuse. I feel my eyes grow wide as Iulia squeezes _hard_ with her hand. She looks at me as though daring me to resist, and then she begins pulling me out of the white room.

"Oh, I just can't wait to show you the swimming pool! It has beautiful colored water jets and a waterfall that pours into the hot tub! And then I can show you the flower garden which has such lovely flowers!" Although Iulia's voice is light and sweet, I can tell that it's all an act. People look at us as we walk past, and they smile.

If only they knew the demon that had me in her talons.

Iulia continues to chirp like a bird, telling me all about what to expect and why she loves it so much living in a giant cavern underground…

"Cavern?" I say without thinking.

Iulia turns around and looks at me as we step into a circular white elevator. "Oh, you haven't seen Elysium yet?" She smiles as she pushes one of the lowest buttons on the elevator control panel. The doors close a few moments afterwards.

As the door closes, Iulia turns to look at me. She smiles for a few moments, and then takes a step towards me. Before I know it, her forearm is up against my neck, and I'm being held up against the wall of the elevator. I struggle to breath.

"And guess what Princess, it's only through the kindness of my people that you're seeing it now." Iulia's voice is more of a snarl than a human sound. "And if you tell anyone about the cavern or anything about it, I will make you pay." She brings her face so close to mine our noses touch. "Understand?"

I nod hurridly. Just in time, the elevator makes a _ping! _noise and Iulia lets me down immediately. As I rub my throat, she's already smiling. "Come on, let's go!" She says, her voice once again sounding like an innocent child. But I know better.

As we step out of the elevator, I look up. At least a mile above us is the ceiling of the cavern. At first, I mistake the lights coming from the stone above to be stars, but after looking at some of the larger lights I see that they're really multicolored crystals. The crystals poke out in varying sizes all over the walls and ceiling of the cavern, and their pure beauty take the breath out of me.

"They're… beautiful!" I say, more to myself than to anyone around me.

Iulia looks at them as well, and for a second all of the hatred towards me vanishes. "Ya." She says. "Airbenders have their sky bison, Firebenders have their dragons, Waterbenders have the changing tides, Earthbenders have the badgermoles…" Iulia closes her eyes and smiles as though she's hearing a distant melody. "And we have the crystals."

Then she opens her eyes and seems to remember my presence. Once again I feel the waves of dislike pouring off of her, but it's less intense this time. "Now, I'll show you the city." She starts walking, and I follow her. We're walking on an ornate plaza, and I realize that at least twenty other elevators get off here as well. A few people walk into and out of elevators, and no one pays us much attention.

I look back and see that in the center of the plaza is a huge white tower that goes through the center of the cavern ceiling. "What's in the huge tower?" I ask. Maybe if I act curious enough, Iulia will see that I actually care and stop hating me.

"That's where we just were. It's directly under the Regia, and it has the hospital and other facilities in it." Iulia says, her voice sounding like a tour guide's. I wonder if she's given this tour to anyone else before. "And, in case the cavern ever collapses, it's our emergency shelter."

I follow Iulia down a large street with grey patterns in the pavement. Only a few people are out on the streets. They wear different styles of clothing, from the fashions that would look normal in Republic City above us to elaborate and mystical looking robes. A few people cast looks in my direction, but I can't tell if they're good looks or bad looks.

We pass at least thirty stores before we reach the first intersection. All of the stores are dark, and I realize that it's probably around two or three in the morning. I should be tired right now, but I'm not. I probably have so much adrenaline in me from all of the day's events that sleeping will be out of the question for a week.

Iulia stops at the intersection to let four white armored guards walk by. They look identical to the ones above guarding the palace, except instead of wielding large poles these guards have blade-less sword hilts hanging from their belts. I can't tell if they pay any attention to me as they walk by. When they pass, Iulia leads me across the street.

"What's with all the guards everywhere?" I ask, trying to incite more conversation.

Iulia's voice is cold again. She doesn't slow down or turn around. "The Energy Guardians are here to maintain security. Keep outsiders outside where they belong."

"Is crime high here in the cavern?" I ask. It would seem sort of stupid, stealing something in a cavern with the only exits in plain sight of everyone.

"There is no crime in Elysium," Iulia says. She doesn't turn around. "It is the perfect city." The words seem rehearsed.

After a few minutes, we seem to enter the residential portion of the city. The housing are mainly huge apartment-like buildings that look like they could fit a hundred medium-sized families each. I wonder how many people live in the cavern-city, but I decide not to ask.

"Lady Impera!" I hear a small voice shout. I turn around and see a small child wearing only a pair of white shorts. He looks to be only three or four years old. He takes his thumb out of his mouth as he awkwardly runs over to Iulia.

Iulia slowly gets down to his height by kneeling on one knee. I can see how hard it is for her to do that wearing her tight dress, and I sympathize with her. Her face lights up as the child approaches. "Hey!" She says. She holds her arms out, and the child runs into her arms and throws his around her. The boy is so small his arms barely reach around her chest.

"Lady Impera, look at what I can do!" The child says in his tiny voice. He steps back and spreads his feet apart. He punches his fist in the air right past Iulia, and a small flickering ball of energy leaves his hand. It travels slowly for a few seconds and then dissipates into the air like a mist.

Iulia gasps, and I realize that she really is a great actress. "Wow! That's impressive!" She looks at the child as he grins from ear to ear. "Have you been out all night practicing?"

The child nods eagerly. "My mommy says that I'm not allowed to practice in the flat, so I have to go outside." The child leans in towards Iulia. "Last time I practiced inside," he whispers. He puts a hand to the side of his mouth. "I shocked mommy with a sphere and she dropped daddy's dinner."

Iulia laughs. It sounds like a pure and clean river flowing over a waterfall. "Ok, now go back to your flat and sleep! It's getting late!"

The child nods eagerly, his light hair tufts and blue-grey eyes moving merrily. "Yes, Lady Impera! Good night!" The child runs off towards one of the apartment buildings. Iulia stands up and watches him go.

I see a light in her eyes, and I decide that if I'm going to establish a good relationship with this girl I need to do it _now. _"You're like a Princess here."

Iulia turns to look at me. "This is my Nation. I imagine that wherever you go in the Fire Nation, you get similar reactions."

I shake my head. "I'm not allowed out of the palace grounds much." I don't mention the number of times I broke that rule.

Iulia looks at me for a few moments as if she's reconsidering her opinion of me. I certainly hope its for the better. She turns around and keeps walking in our original direction, and I follow her.

We walk in silence until we stop going by apartment buildings. Now, all I can see around us is soft green grass and small trees. I see a river meander off into the distance, and I see flowers and other plants grow all over the floor of the cavern. "How does all this grow here?" I ask.

Iulia leans over and picks a white flower. She holds it up to eye level, and then she drops it. "A lot of it was planted here when we first started building in the cavern. After a while, it just started to spread. It wouldn't be here naturally." She looks up at the crystals in the ceiling that give off a surprising amount of light. "The light from the crystals isn't enough for the plants, so we had to engineer the plants to survive without adequate water and light."

I raise an eyebrow. "How did you do that?" I ask. Iulia doesn't answer. She keeps walking, her silver hair bouncing with every step on the grass. I follow her, not wanting to press her for anything she doesn't want to talk about. Now that I think about it, she's probably not allowed to talk about it. Confidential Energybender-only information if I had to guess.

"You're the first non-Energybender that's been down here for a long time." Iulia says. She hasn't started threatening me yet, so maybe she did change her mind about me. I certainly hope so, because I don't think I could find my way back to the elevators without her help.

"It's an honor." I say diplomatically. I am a princess, after all.

We walk up a small hill I hadn't noticed before. When we get to the top, Iulia gestures with her arms. "Welcome to the Impera Estate."

In front of us is a large mansion. It looks like it's made out of pure marble. It looks like it has one main three-floor wing in the center of the estate, and two smaller wings off to the left and right. How I hadn't noticed it from a distance, I'm not sure.

The grounds of the estate are covered with pathways, hedges, fountains, statues, and floating lights. I see a large circle of sand near the right wing that I realize is a training ring.

"Wow." Is all I can say. For the first time, I realize just how _massive _the cavern is. If it can fit the entire city that we walked through, this estate, and _still _have parts of the cavern floor that aren't being used for anything, it could probably fit a good chunk of Republic City. It seems impossible, but it seems that with Energybenders the impossible just takes a bit of effort.

"I've always thought that it has too many statues, personally. My dad's a bit of a narcissist." Iulia says. She starts walking down the hill towards the estate, and I hurry to follow her.

She leads me down a decorated path to the front entrance to the mansion. A columned front porch surrounds the entrance, and it gives the entire mansion the appearance of a temple instead of a house. Instead of a door, the front door is just two large curtains that are tied to the sides of the doorway with silver roping. I remember Iulia telling me that there is no crime in the cavern, but I would still be worried about people just walking in and taking stuff.

The foyer has two brilliant white staircases that curve above the hallway to the living room. In the middle of the foyer is a large pool of water that looks like it's crystal. Iulia points at it with a finger. "That used to be where Aelius and I would pretend we were Waterbenders and splash water at each other. He was always weirdly amazing at hitting me with water, but I think that was because he tried so hard."

I try to imagine a younger Aelius. It doesn't work. Iulia leads me into the living room, which is as opulent as the foyer. White plush couches and chairs surround a crystal table, and more couches and chairs face towards a fireplace at one end of the room. Above the fireplace is a beautiful painting of a man and woman with their arms around a boy and a girl. Everyone in the painting has silver eyes. The girl has long silver hair and the boy has an intense look on his face.

"Is that your family?" I ask Iulia. She's looking at the picture as well, her eyes distant.

She blinks a few times. "Ya," she says softly. "That's my family."

I see her eyes are focused on the woman with silver eyes and a button nose like Iulia's. _That's their mother_, I realize.

Without considering the consequences, I put my hand on Iulia's bare shoulder. Her skin is cold under my hand. "How about you show me the kitchen." I say softly. Iulia looks at me, and I can see how grateful she is for the human contact. Without a word, she leads me through an archway and shows me the elaborate kitchen, with all of the finest electric cooking devices. She shows me the fully stocked fridge, and as the cold air from the freezer blows on my face I realize just what the Energybenders have created in this cavern.

Paradise.

Somehow, under everyone's noses, the Energybenders have pulled together their entire populace and have built a city for them under Republic City. They have power, they have water, they must have a sewage system, they have natural lighting, housing, shops, a police force, hospitals, their own government, huge mansions, and the very latest in technology. Iulia said that this place was called Elysium, and the word has immediately become synonymous in my mind with the word "utopia."

I wonder, as Iulia shows me her bedroom, just why the Energybenders are so separated from the world above. They all seem to be content and non-resentful of their homes, but that's just from what I've seen so far.

As Iulia shows me her bathroom and all of her makeup, I realize that she isn't threatening me anymore. As she shows me her shower, I mention why she's so nice to me now.

Iulia blushes, and looks at her reflection in the mirror. "My father taught Aelius and I from an early age to not trust or associated with people from other Nations." Her eyes meet her reflection's eyes. "Aelius realized what trash that was, but I still have to fight the urge to sneer as people from other Nations go by when I'm in the Regia."

"But why does your father rent himself out to other Nations as a mercenary when he doesn't like them?" I ask, honestly curious.

Iulia blinks a few times. "I… don't know." She says after a while. "I've never thought about that before." She puts her makeup back in the cabinet. "I think he needs the money. We don't see him much, Aelius and I. Not much time to ask him questions other than if he's ok."

I look at my reflection in the mirror. I realize how tired I look. My hair is a bit disheveled and my eyes are red. My armor makes me look like some sort of crazy woman from the Fire Nation. I recall the stories of Princess Azula from the time of the Hundred Year War, and I figure I could probably pass myself off as her. Except I'm just tired instead of being a homicidal maniac.

"My people," I start to say. I keep looking at my reflection. "Think that Energybenders will be the end of this war. They think that whomever has the most Energybenders on their side will win." I don't know why I say that; my brain must be shutting down.

Iulia laughs. "That's probably true. Come on, I'll show you to the guest rooms."

* * *

Someone must have sent my bag down to the room, because it's waiting for me on the large bed when Iulia brings me to the guest room. We talk for a few minutes about Elysium, and then she tells me good night (or as she said, good morning) and leaves, closing the door behind her.

As I start to take off my armor, I hear voices outside my door. One of them is Iulia, but the other is too faint for me to make out if I know the owner or not.

"I got her settled in the guest room." Iulia says.

I can't make out the response, but it sounds masculine. Iulia responds back to the unknown speaker "She didn't ask where you were. I think I sort of..." Her voice trails off.

"Scared her." I can make out the voice now; it's Aelius. I put my hand on the doorknob and almost open the door before something stops me.

"I didn't mean to, Ael. It just sort of happened." Iulia says, her voice growing soft.

I can faintly hear Aelius sigh. "Fine. You can apologize in the morning, but right now we all have to go to sleep. You've been up since about this time yesterday, I hear."

"Ael," Iulia says. "You _died_ today. You need your sleep more than I do."

Aelius laughs. He died? I gasp. I still don't know what really happened to him. The doctors just told me he blacked out. Aelius says something, and I lose it amidst my thoughts.

Iulia heard it though. "But how are you feeling now? And what did father talk to you about?"

Aelius is quiet for a few moments. When he responds, his voice sounds far away. "Something big is happening soon, Iul."

"That's what everyone is saying, Ael, but no one is saying _what_." Iulia sounds exasperated. "Father tells me that I need to be training all the time, but he's not saying for what."

I hear heavy footsteps, which grow faint. A few moments later, a set of lighter footsteps follow them.

I finish taking my armor off.

_Something big is happening soon, Iul_.

What is it?


	10. Part One: The Path (VII)

"_Secrets? Mysteries? No such thing. Someone else always knows."_

_-Fire Lord Zuko to Secretary of Intelligence Biong La after the Fire Lord's first Intelligence briefing_

* * *

The entire world ripples around me, as though I'm trapped inside one of my own energy spheres. People walk by me in what seems to be a busy marketplace, their voices faint and distant. The people and what I assume to be market stalls are green and tan blurs that shift and distort themselves like water. Nothing seems to hold a distinct appearance for more than a split second.

Then the world dissolves around me, and I am standing on the edge of a metal pier. I look down from the edge, and I see the world moving below me. Clouds and large forests pass under me, and some part of me wonders if anyone down there is looking up at me right now, wondering what is above them. Hell, I'm wondering the same thing.

The world changes again, and I'm sitting in a dark room. I try to move my head, but my body does not respond. My eyes start to close, and I desperately fight them, trying to keep my eyes open because I'm _afraid_ that if I let them close they will stay that way forever…

With a sharp breath, my eyes open and I'm staring at the vaulted ceiling of my bedroom.

I take a few deep breaths, and then sit up in my bed. The light white sheets fall off me and tickle my bare chest as they fall. I realize when I move to pull the covers off me completely that I'm holding my forehead in my hands.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. When I open them, I look around my room. Everything seems to be in the same place. My drawers are in the normal positions flanking my closet, my large windowseat overlooking the large pool outside has all of it's cushions relatively in the same place, my fireplace is empty (like normal,) the door to my bathroom is open, and all of my pictures and paintings are hanging and in their normal positions.

Just to make sure I'm not still dreaming, I pinch my foot. It hurts, so unless I've developed a deep psychosis within the past forty-eight hours, I should be awake.

I get up from bed. I point a finger towards a round crystal button on the wall by my door, and a small orb of energy shoots out and hits the button. The lights in my room click on, casting the entire room in a soft glow. I look up at the vaulted ceiling and smile when I look at all the hanging crystals. Lighting in Elysium is typically done either by stationary energy spheres or by crystals. It saves electricity.

I get up and pad on my bare feet over to the large windowseat. I look at my reflection. I'm only wearing a loose pair of white shorts, but I can't see anyone outside that would care about my lack of clothing.

The pool gurgles faintly outside my window, and I see steam rising up from the direction of the hot tub. Iulia is probably using it. She loves that thing. When I use it, I turn the heat down a lot, because I don't enjoy boiling myself alive like she seems to.

I turn around. I go into my bathroom, which is as beautiful and elegant as my room. I take a quick shower, eager to once again rub Elysi into my skin. The oil is both a cleanser and a moisturizer, and all Energybenders on a daily basis use it for many things. It's another one of the "traditions" we've had since our inception as a demographic. The irony is that it's only been a tradition for forty seven years, which is how long people have been Energybending for.

I step out of the shower, careful not to slip on the smooth marble floor. I shave the stubble that grew overnight off of my face, brush my teeth, and make sure I'm presentable to the public eye. Being the son of one of the Energybending Masters, I need to make certain that I always look presentable. It doesn't bother me. I enjoy looking good.

I step out of my bathroom and pull a white baggy shirt out of my closet. I pull it on, and put on a pair of grey slacks. I look in the mirror, make sure everything looks alright, and open the two glass double doors by my windowseat and step outside.

The cavern is warm, like normal. I've been told that it's so warm year-round because we're much closer to the planets core and we don't have any cold breezes since we have no wind underground. My father has mentioned talk among the Council of allocating funds in order to build an underground beach for the residents of Elysium to use.

The idea sounds absurd, but I would be fine without having to leave Elysium to go to the beach. I pad on bare feet across the light multicolored tiles by the pool. I imagine that I'm walking on a sandy beach. I roll my eyes and smile at my own childishness. The water gurgles softly beside me as I walk down the few steps to the hot tub.

The hot tub is a tier below the pool, and a small waterfall flows down the wall that the pool shares with the tub. The amount of steam wafting up from the hot tub makes it difficult for me to see who is in it, but I only see one shadow so I know it's only one person.

"Iulia." I say into the cloud of hot steam.

I hear a gasp, and the water by my feet ripples a bit. I hear some water splashing, and I realize that Iulia must have fallen asleep. She has never done that in the hot tub before.

"Bloody hell Aelius," the shadow in the mist curses. I hear some faint splashing, and Iulia swims over to the edge of the hot tub closest to me. Her body is still submerged, but her head is showing. I see that she's wearing one of her many white two piece swimsuits that make all the young Energybenders swoon. "You just about scared me half to death." She looks up at me with her silver eyes, and I see my mother in her smile.

"And that hot tub is baking you the other half of the way." I say. I don't dare touch the water, because I know from experience how incredibly hot Iulia sets it on. "You're going to get a tan just from being in that hot tub."

Iulia leans back and dips her hair in the water. "Maybe I'm training for the handsome Firebender husband I'm going to have one day." Iulia and I both roll our eyes at the same time.

"Father would kill you."

"Father would kill me."

We both say it at the same time, and our eyes meet. We immediately burst out into laughter. Oh, my father would have a heart attack if either of us married into other Nations. He is very much in favor of keeping Energybending linage pure. So is the rest of the Masters Council. It's one of the many reasons why we live underground. Less contact with the surface, the less chance of an Energybender giving birth to another type of bender.

I'm looking at the back porch when Iulia speaks next. "Cathra," she says. "Is very much attracted to you, Ael."

I look at all the chairs arranged on the back porch. A large purple crystal table is the centerpiece of a seating area, and a white wicker snack and drink stand is nearby. It's for all the parties my father has with the who's-who of the Energybenders. Iulia and I aren't allowed to leave our rooms during those parties, because my father says that they're for business, not for children.

"I know." Is all I say. My feelings towards the Princess are… conflicted, to say the least.

I look back at Iulia, and her eyes are darting across my entire body. She's trying to read my body language to see what I'm not saying out loud. Iulia's always been good at reading people. I used to think she could read my mind. "No," She said when we were younger. "Just your body."

"You're worried about what could happen." Iulia says, stabbing into my inner thoughts like a knife.

I wonder if it ever bothers Iulia that she can read people as well as she does. "Ya." I know the futility of lying to her. "She's Fire Nation, I'm not. She's a princess-"

"And you're the son of one of the only four Energybending Masters in the world." Iulia says calmly.

I look at her like she just sprouted a new head. "Are you trying to encourage me?" I ask. Iulia and I have a long-standing agreement that whenever one of us does something stupid, the other would try to stop us. It's been very helpful for both of us, over the years. But her encouraging me to have a relationship with another Nation is out of the blue, and surprises me greatly.

"She's a nice girl. Attractive. She worships the ground you walk on, but not for the reason every girl in Elysium does." Iulia looks up at the cavern ceiling. "She likes you for you."

I blink a few times. "I saved her life twice. That's the only reason she-"

"Oh, just shut up." Iulia snaps. "Can't you just listen to yourself? You're trying to talk yourself out of this."

"Ya?" I snap right back at her. "So what if I am? Maybe I don't want to have to lose someone I care about again!"

"Aelius," Iulia says softly. "You had absolutely nothing to do with mom's death."

I throw my hands up. I feel the blood rushing to my face. "Mom has nothing to do with this! She's been dead for twelve years! I've gotten over it."

Iulia stares at me with her piercing silver eyes. A cloud of steam covers her face briefly, but I can still see her bright irises through the mist. "You're lying."

I realize I'm breathing heavily. Damn Iulia and her mindreading. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, fighting down the anger before I lose control. I sit on the hard tile by the hot tub. Iulia just looks at me.

"I miss her too Ael," Iulia comforts. "But we have to move on. We're older now, and we need to start planning for our future."

I laugh. "Rich irony in that. I'm not even really an expert Energybender."

I hear a shrill whistle, and a blur strikes out at my leg from the hot tub. The hand hits me like a whip, and I cry out in pain. "What the Gods was that for?' I ask, rubbing the point of impact.

"You are the meanest person every Aelius, and only to yourself. You passed those trials like everyone else." Iulia is mad now. She's was always very motherly, but she basically took the role in earnest once our real mother died.

I look up at the cavern ceiling, and wonder what would happen if all the crystals that gave us light disappeared. "Father oversaw my test, and if it hadn't have been him, I would have failed."

Iulia is silent, but only for a minute. "So what? You're still an amazing Energybender-"

"No I'm not."

"I bet you could beat me Aelius."

I look at Iulia. She's full of surprises today, that's for sure. "You really think so?" I ask. I try to keep the disbelief out of my voice.

Iulia nods. "Let's spar. Right now." She lifts herself up out of the hot tub. Steam emanated from her wet body. I stand up, and she looks up at me. She's only a few inches shorter than I am, but sometimes she still intimidates me. She pokes me in the center of the chest. "You need some self confidence, and maybe beating up your half-naked sister will give you that."

Iulia starts walking up the stairs to the pool level. She grabs a towel from it's place over the back of a chair, and starts to dry off. "You should show Cathra the pool. She would love it. She didn't get to see it last night."

I pick up Iulia's white silk wrap from it's pile by my feet. I hand it to her, and she wraps it around her waist. "Where is she?" I ask.

"I think she's still asleep. It's only three in the afternoon." Iulia says, nonchalantly.

I shrug. Cathra had a rough day yesterday, and it's understandable that she would need a lot of sleep. She went from being choked in the morning to Republic City at night. "How were things here while I was gone?"

Iulia shrugs as she pulls on a loose silk crop top. "Fine, I suppose. Missed you. A squadron of girls came by a few days ago and asked if they could meet you. I told them you were away, but they said they would come back." She leans over and dries her hair with her towel.

I sigh. "Anything _besides _girls visiting, or is my love life the topic of the day?"

"You got it." Iulia says. She starts walking over to the side of the house with the training ring. I follow her. The training ring is a large sandy circle. That is all it is. It is the most used portion of the house, and yet it is the most low-tech. The irony doesn't escape me.

Iulia walks over to the far side of the ring. I take up a position opposite her. I feel the sand grate at the bottom of my feet, and all the sudden I have a flashback of my fight with Cathra two days ago. It's amazing, what can happen in two days.

Iulia stretches her arms above her head. "What are our rules? First one unconscious?"

I nod. "Guess so. No silvers, please."

Iulia nods, and takes up her Energybending stance. Iulia has always used a quick and agile stance, with her feet only a foot apart. Her stance looks like it's for kickboxing instead of for Energybending. The results she produces with her swift attacks, however, prove that she is an expert Energybender.

I take up my regular long stance that gives me both agility and powerful strikes. "Whenever you're ready," I say. "It's your call."

I take a few deep breaths, and I see Iulia do the same. "Go." She says, after a few seconds.

She is the first one to move. She sprints at me, her feet kicking up tufts of sand. I make a punching motion with my left hand and shoot a white orb towards her. She leans back and slides under it, using her gathered force from her speed to kick her legs towards me.

Two energy spheres fly towards me, and I throw up a white barrier to block them. Once they hit the barrier, I kick with my foot in Iulia's direction.

She rolls out of the way a few seconds before my energy sphere hits her. She jumps back to her feet and twists her body to the side to get out of the way of the energy sphere I tried to hit her with while she was distracted. Apparently, she wasn't distracted.

Iulia runs at me again, and this time she makes a sweeping motion with her hand. A long blade of white light speeds towards me, and I sidestep it.

I step right into Iulia's foot kicking me in the ribcage. With a _woof_ of air escaping, I stumble a few feet back.

Iulia doesn't relent, and her silver hair is a blur as she closes the distance between us with a few swift punches. They all hit my abdomen, and they sting. Iulia fights with the ferocity and speed of a swarm of insects.

I reach out with a hand and shove her backwards, hard. She uses her movement to shoot a energy sphere towards my chin, and I throw my head back just in time to get out of the way.

Then I feel a hundred volts of energy going through my torso, and I black out for the second time in twenty-four hours. My last thought before the darkness consumes me is that I'm getting to be very good at passing out.

My eyes snap open as a wave of fiery pain bursts into existence on my right cheek. I see Iulia leaning over me, her hand raised in preparation to smack me again.

"I'm awake!" I cry, shielding my face with my hands as a defense against further blows.

Iulia sighs. "You need to be trained." She offers a hand out to me, and I grab it. She helps me up and dusts off my back. "That was too easy for me."

I cross my arms in front of my chest. "I told you. The training I had wasn't enough."

Iulia doesn't respond and just continues to wipe the sand off my back. Her eyes are cloudy as though she's debating whether or not to agree with me.

After a few seconds, she grabs me by the shoulders and looks up at me. "Ael, against other elements, you'll be fine." She smiles sadly. "But against other Energybenders, you're screwed."

"Do you think father could teach me?" I ask.

Iulia shakes her head. "He's going back to the Eastern Air Temple soon. No time."

I sigh. "I'll find a way." I start walking in the direction of the right wing of the house. Iulia has control over the right wing because that's where her room is, I have control over the left wing, and my father has control over the middle and the rest of the house. Since he's rarely home, Iulia and I basically have free range over our wings.

I open the door to Iulia's main hallway. She has been decorating her wing of the house with white flower arrangements and energy orbs in every corner. She has converted a majority of her rooms to clothing storages, rooms where she designs her own clothing, indoor flower gardens, and she even has a few specialized lounges.

I, on the other hand, have devoted my wing of the house to libraries, updates on world news, combat training, an indoor agility course, a weapon storage room, and a meditation chamber. The decorations in my hallways are suits of armor, weapons, and hanging crystals.

I pass by an open door near the end of Iulia's hallway. Inside I see Cathra reclining on a large light blue plush couch. I stick my head through the doorway.

"Enjoying yourself?" I ask, smirking.

Cathra jumps up from the couch and runs over to me. "Thank the Gods you're all right!" She throws her arms around me, and I awkwardly put mine around her. She looks up at me, and I see a glimmer in her eyes.

I try to think of something noncommittal to say. "It's good to see you again too." I immediately regret saying that, because Cathra smiles like a child opening a birthday present. I quickly change subjects. "How do you like Elysium?"

Cathra still hasn't let go of me. "I love it! I want to walk around, but Iulia told me-"

"That she can't go out wearing Fire Nation clothing or else people will freak out." Iulia says from behind me. I let go of Cathra (I sense to both girls' disappointment) and turn to look at my sister.

"Can't she borrow some of your clothes?" I ask.

Iulia shakes her head. "I make my own clothes and you know I sell them when I outgrow them. No," Iulia gives me an odd smile. "She'll have to go into town for clothing."

_Don't do this to me, Iulia,_ I plead with my eyes.

"Aelius can take you, Cathra." Iulia blinks twice, and through our secret twin language, I understand the blinks to mean, "_have fun."_

Cathra, oblivious to the undercover conversation, says "Oh, yay! Shopping!"

I groan. "Oh, yay." I mutter. "Shopping."

* * *

Four hours, several hundred Yuan, and numerous failed attempts at flirting later, Iulia, Cathra, and I are sitting around the kitchen table. Cathra is now wearing one of her many outfits that she purchased. It's a short white dress that showcases her athletic legs and upper torso. Her hair falls down behind her back. I made her take out her Fire Nation topknot, as people would recognize her as royalty from a mile away if she were wearing it.

I cut into one of my dragonbull dumplings. "Someone asked me in one of the stores about how I was."

Iulia nods across the table. "Mhm." She mumbles around the remains of a piece of bread. "Father told-" she swallows the piece of bread. "Father made a statement about how you passed out from exhaustion."

I put a piece of dumpling in my mouth. I chew, savoring the tough beef. After I'm done chewing, I put down my fork and knife. "It's amazing how one second no one knows what caused my collapse, and the next, without even running any tests, they say it's exhaustion."

Iulia shrugs and sips a blue wine from a crystal flute. "Science works at a distance, these days." She blinks.

Translation: rather than cause a tumult with my mysterious fainting episode, they're going to pick the easy path and lie about it instead of having everyone wonder if they could be the next ones to black out.

Cathra, Gods bless her soul, is totally ignorant of our continuing secret conversation. "In the Fire Nation, they have a machine that scans your entire body and diagnoses you for any illnesses or medical conditions." She shakes a bottle of hot spice over her rice. Fire Nation citizens enjoy spicy food. "It's really cool how they can do that."

I sip from my own flute of blue liquid. The berry wine is sweet and leaves a sour aftertaste in my throat. "It's amazing how far advanced the world is, technologically." I clink my glass loudly against the table and look at Iulia.

She understands my cue. "We're working on some new technologies ourselves." She looks at Cathra and smiles. "Our techies are working on something that can intensify the power of our light spheres until they get so hot they can cut right through things."

I raise an eyebrow. "When did they start developing that?" I ask. Iulia is more privy to the secrets of Elysium and the Regia because she has a way of pulling secrets out of people.

"Few years now." Iulia says from around bites of a dumpling. She wipes her mouth with her napkin.

Translation: I can't talk about anything more in front of the Firebender.

As if on cue, a noise rings from the kitchen wall. "Communication Center to Impera Estate, over."

Iulia rushes up and approaches the source of the ringing noise, which is a glowing glass monitor embedded in the wall. She pushes against a corner of the glass, which begins to glow green. "Lady Impera to CeeCee, responding, over."

"Lady Impera," the voice says respectfully. "The Regia honorably requests the presence of Princess Cathra immediately. She has a visitor."

I raise my eyebrow and look at Cathra. She shrugs.

Iulia turns around and looks at Cathra. "Any idea?"

Cathra shrugs again. "No clue."

Iulia pushes a lock of hair out of her face. "Well, let's go see your mystery visitor."

* * *

A/N: I'm going to be out of town for the next week. But when I come back, expect the regular updates to return! In the meantime, please enjoy the story so far, and don't forget to review! If you like it enough to review it, chances are other people will too!


	11. The Dark Light

_In the pillar of dark light, the man smiled. He stood on the center of his raised dias, and looked around at each of them. They sat on the edge of the darkness, hoods raised. Each of them sat in a different color of light. One sat in a dim blue mist, another sat in a low red fog, a faint green dust obscured the one beside her, and the last tapped his fingers in dappled yellow light._

_The man in the center turned around to look at each of the four hooded figures. "Are there any questions?" He asked. His voice echoed off the marble columns bordering the chamber._

_No, my Lord, his servants all said at once._

_The man relaxed his face. "We must move swiftly," the man said, padding on his bare feet off the dais. He passed in between where the woman in the blue light and the man in the yellow light sat on their thrones. "If the other Nations find the child first, everything is lost. Master Marcian," the man said. "Tell us about your efforts."_

_The man began to pace around the outside of the circular table where the four figures sat. The figure who sat in the red light leaned forward, revealing thick pink lips. "I have managed to persuade the Fire Lord," the woman said. "Into believing that the Avatar is in grave danger of being found." The woman turned her head towards the man tapping his fingers in the grey light. "Master Antonius's efforts in convincing the Air and Water Council that the Avatar must be killed have benefited this effort._

_"The Fire Lord believes that only someone in his absolute confidence can protect the Avatar." The woman leaned back into the red light, the darkness of her hood once again concealing her face. "I was unable to dissuade him from the idea of sending his daughter, Princess Cathra, in search of the Avatar."_

_The woman in the blue light laughed, a dark noise that sounded like ice shattering. "Is this the same Cathra that is now living in the Impera household?" The woman turned her head to the man in grey light beside her. "Antonius, just what are you up to?" _

_"I ask the same question of my children, but I never receive an answer." The man in the grey light sighed. _

_"We will distract the Nations with their search for the Avatar." The pacing man remounted the dais. "And then we will move to Phase Two."_

_Silence fell over the room like a blanket of night. _

_The man in the green dusty light spoke up. "I can arrange for the Avatar to make an appearance in Bah Sing Sae, Master Marcian. All I will need is time to prepare them for public debut."_

_The man in the center of the room smiled again. "Let the world think that their savior has arrived. You are picking up the habits of the Dai Li, Master Commodus."_

_The man in the green light bowed his head. "We adapt to our locations, my Lord."_

_The man in the darkness laughed. "That we do, Master Commodus… that we do." The man turned to the woman in the red light. "Master Marcian," he said. _

_"Yes, my Lord?" the woman leaned forward. _

_"You are to escort the Princess to the Fire Nation." The man in the darkness commanded._

_"My Lord, the Fire Lord has asked of me to return one of his aging admirals back the Capitol as well. May I bring them back together?" The woman in the red light asked. _

_The man in the darkness waved a hand in dismissal. "Do whatever you have to do to maintain the Fire Lord's trust." The man in the dark light closed his eyes and imagined the darkness around him. Comforting, like the warm embrace of a lover. Soon, he would feel it forever._

_In the pillar of dark light, the man smiled._


	12. Part Two: The Mission (I)

_**A/N: I'm back, everyone! I hope no one got too impatient waiting for me! Unfortunately, however, I'm leaving tomorrow night to go to Italy for two weeks. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to upload anything (I'm still unsure of what the connection will be like where I am staying) but I can promise that when I get back, there will be chapters galore! **_

* * *

**Part Two: The Hunt**

* * *

"_I need your help finding the Avatar."_

_ "Hm. doesn't sound too fun."_

_ "Does the end of the world sound like more fun?"_

_-Fire Lord Zuko to Bounty Hunter June, prior to the Failed Invasion of the Earth Kingdom during Sozin's Comet_

* * *

I walk a few steps behind the Fire Nation Princess on our way to one of the meeting rooms in the Regia. I am a bit surprised that the Princess refused to change into her Fire Nation armor, but no matter. I am a little bit touched, too. She would rather wear the whites of the Energybenders than her own Nation's reds. Maybe she just enjoys wearing our style of clothing. It can feel very elegant when compared to the shorts and t-shirts everyone else seems to be wearing nowadays.

I push a lock of silver hair out of my face, and make sure my trademark silver circlet is straight on my forehead. I look down at my clothes; make sure they are all smooth and appropriately ordered. I check my nails, my arms, and when I am convinced they are perfectly prepared for the coming encounter, I look up and smile at the back of the Princess's head.

We approach a door flanked by two white Energy Guardians. I let out a puff of breath, glad that there are no Imperial Firebenders guarding the door. That means it is not the Fire Lord making a surprise visit, which is a very good thing. He has come from time to time, making sure to catch the Regia at its most inconvenient moment.

The door opens, and I follow Cathra through into a small room. Plush white chairs are arranged in a circle. In the chair directly opposite from the door is a woman with thick red lips, silvery-blonde hair, and wearing a white Energybending robe. The lines of her robe are glowing purple, like my father's robe, so I know that she is one of the four Masters.

The woman, who has a name I should probably remember, stands up. I notice that she is wearing a topknot on the center of her head. _She must be the Master that serves the Fire Nation_, I realize. I immediately drop to a knee.

Cathra seems to know the woman. "Master Marcian!" She says energetically. "It's so good to see you again!"

I do not look up from the floor, but I assume the Master must be embracing the Princess. "Oh, Princess Cathra, by the Gods how you've grown! Last time I saw you, you were practicing your Firebending in the Palace courtyard!"

Cathra laughs. "That was only a few years ago, Master Marcian."

The Master drops her voice conspiratorially. "Well, when you've seen as much of the war as I have, hours turn into days!" The Master raises her voice to its normal levels. "Oh, Iulia! Don't kneel in front of me darling, your father would have my head."

I rise, and bow before the Energybending Master. "Master Marcian, it is an honor to welcome you to the Regia again." I say.

"Oh, well I came for the Council meeting, and then I got a call, so I'll only be here a few more hours." Master Marcian says, huffing a little. "I forgot how much I missed being back home." She gestures at the assembled chairs. "Please, sit down!" She winks at the Princess. "We have a lot to discuss."

The Master sits down, and the energy on her robe dies down to a faint purple glow. Princess Cathra and I sit down as well, forming a triangle with the Master. The Princess and the Master cross their legs and sit very lady-like. I curse my choice of clothing and how it prevents me from doing so. I am wearing a tight dress like the one I wore yesterday, except this one has silver piping down the back instead of ornate symbols around the neck.

Master Marcian focuses on Princess Cathra. "Princess, your father wants you to return home."

The effect is immediate. Princess Cathra's face turns red. "No!" She says vehemently. "I like it here."

Master Marcian nods. "Yes, the Regia is beautiful, and Elysium is one of the wonders of the world, but your father has requested your presence."

Princess Cathra crosses her arms, and I make a mental note to tell her never to do so again. It is one of the rudest poses for someone to take. It conveys disrespect, lack of attention, and stubbornness. "I'm staying." Princess Cathra says again.

The Energybender closes her eyes. "Princess Cathra, please. Fire Lord Ursan has asked me to bring back both you and one of his old Admirals. He says that he has important jobs for both of you."

I look at Princess Cathra, who still has her arms crossed. "I'm not going." She says. I see the fire in the Princess's eyes, and I know that she is firmly entrenched in this matter.

The Energybending Master is silent for a few moments, and when I turn my attention to her, I realize she is staring at me. "Lady Impera," the Master says. "Please use your famous negotiation skills and assist me."

I fight back a laugh. Master Marcian needs help from me? I think for a few moments, push the humor out of my head, and ask myself what Aelius would do.

What Aelius would do would probably be to tie Princess Cathra's hands behind her back, put a black bag over her head, and knock her unconscious for the trip to the Capitol. If she were to wake up and begin fighting for her freedom, he would knock her unconscious again.

I feel my eyes widen as I realize what the only obvious course of action is. _Iulia, _I tell myself. _You fool! How did you not think of that at first?_

I smile and look at Princess Cathra. Aelius will hate me for doing this, but it will be good for him. "Princess Cathra," I say in my most diplomatic voice, "Lord Aelius will be happy to accompany you on your journey."

The Princess's face lights up. "He would?"

I widen my smile to counteract the guilt growing inside of me. "He would." I say. I do not mention how long it will probably take him to become happy about accompanying the Princess, nor do I mention how he will probably be the opposite of happy for the first few days of the journey.

I feel Master Marcian's eyes on me, and I turn to look at her. "Would it be alright for my brother to accompany Princess Cathra?" I ask. I see a shadow pass over the Energybending Master's face, but it is gone before I can devote any attention to it.

Master Marcian smiles. "Oh, of course! I'm sure Aelius would love to visit the Fire Nation!"

I smile and blink a few times. If only she knew.

* * *

I find Aelius in one of his training rooms in his wing of the estate. He is not facing the doorway, so I am not sure if he knows that I am watching him throw knives against a target. The knives dig deep into the synthetic flesh of the target, and more than one go right through to hit the wooden boards beyond the target.

I lean against the doorway for a few minutes. I cannot see Aelius's face, but I can read his body. His muscles are tense, he is repeating each throw in exactly the same way, and his breathing comes in short huffs. He is upset about something. I curse in my head. Why did everything have to happen now?

Aelius throws his last knife. "Go ahead, say it." He walks over to the target and begins yanking out his long knives and stabbing them into the sheaths strapped to his legs.

I sigh. "Say what, Aelius?" For once, I am not quite sure what he means. There are too many options of things for me to say.

My brother walks behind the target and begins wiggling the knives that went through the target out of the wood. "I should be practicing my Energybending."

I catch a glimpse of Aelius's face. His eyes are red, as though he has been crying. My stomach drops. "No. That's not it."

Aelius walks back to his original position in front of the target. He pulls a knife out of a sheath, assumes his throwing stance, and hurls the knife at the target. It hits dead center, and sinks all the way to the hilt. "Some times I really wish father hadn't let me off easy on the trials."

I close the door behind me and take a few steps into the room. The marble flooring feels cold and hard on my bare feet. "Ael, so what if you aren't an amazing Energybender. You can use every other weapon on the planet."

Aelius stops in the middle of a throw. He turns around to look at me. The knife he had been about to throw is still in his hand, and it twinkles in the light of the crystals in the ceiling. "So what?" He asks no one in particular. "I wasn't born with a sword for an arm. I was born an Energybender."

I shake my head. "Aelius, you don't have to be perfect. No one is."

Aelius swings around back towards the target and hurls the knife overhanded. It hits the rope suspending the target from the ceiling. The target falls to the floor with a dull _thud_. The knife continues its path and embeds itself in the wood against the far wall. "I know what the problem is now." Aelius says softly.

I nod, even though I know Aelius cannot see it. Everyone that knows Aelius knows what the problem is. He is too emotional, too quick to anger, too rash. He does not think things through to the end. He focuses on what will happen in the next ten seconds instead of the next hour. Energybending is heavily reliant on the human brain, thoughts, and intentions. If an Energybender cannot focus on his or her bending, the energy they are using will not be as effective. It can even, sometimes, go haywire and off path.

Aelius is unfortunate because at any other element, he would succeed. He has the wits of an Airbender, the stubbornness of an Earthbender, the grace of a Waterbender, and the ferocity of a Firebender. He does not have the mind of an Energybender. He cannot grasp the continued focus that is required to generate and control light.

Aelius is still. "I'm not meant to be an Energybender." He mumbles.

"Oh, Ael…" I say. I walk up behind him before he starts crying. I know he is about to, because I know my brother better than anyone else in the world possibly could.

I throw my arms around my brother, who's body is already shaking. _Damn it, damn it, damn it Iulia, _I yell at myself inside my head. _Did you have to push him so hard earlier?_

"Aelius," I say softly. "I think you need to take some personal time."

"Like where?" my brother asks. His body stops shaking. "Where could I go?"

I raise an eyebrow. His voice is calm now, as though nothing ever happened. I look at his posture. It's relaxed, but something is off. It's like he's forcing himself to be calm now.

I take a few steps back from him. "The Fire Nation. Master Marcian is going to be taking Cathra back to the Capitol. I think-" I pause and take a deep breath. "I think you should go with them."

Aelius turns his head to look at me with one eye. His eyes are still red, but they are calm. "How long?" He asks. His voice has an odd tone to it. I have never heard it in his voice before. It reminds me of how our father used to speak after our mother died.

"Until you come back." I say. I was going to tell him only a few days, but after hearing him, I think he may need longer. I do not want my only brother to snap like our father did. I cannot be the only sane one in our family.

Aelius looks back at the target that is still lying on the floor. Aelius has never had any real experiences outside of Republic City. He went to the Eastern Air Temple once with our father, but that was only for a few days while father inspected the fortifications of the Temple. I know though that Aelius isn't bothered by the concept of going somewhere new; he never is.

He's upset because he feels like he doesn't belong with his own people.

I reach out and put a hand on my twin brother's shoulder. Under the thin fabric of his muscle shirt, I can feel how cold he is. "You've never been on a vacation before. This will be good for you."

Aelius doesn't turn around. "Thanks for volunteering me." He says, jerking his shoulder out from underneath my hand. I pull back as if he tried to bite me.

I understand his point, though. "It was the only way Cathra would go back home. The Fire Lord wants her to come back home. Master Marcian-"

Aelius spins around. "I don't care about the damn Fire Lord!" He yells. He throws his hands in the air.

The light in the room suddenly starts to flicker. I look up at the crystals embedded in the ceiling and see that they are blinking in and out of life. I stare at them for a few seconds, wondering how that could be possible.

"Everyone tries to control us somehow," Aelius continues to rage. "Whether its by keeping us so isolated underground that we can't do any damage, or if its by paying us to do their dirty work for them!" Aelius continues to make angry gestures with his hands, but I only see them from the corner of my eyes.

A small stream of glowing white dust is slowly flowing out of each of the crystals. With every second that passes, the crystals continue to get dimmer and dimmer. The stream of light particles, for that is the only thing they can be, remain flowing out of the crystals like blood flowing from an open wound.

Aelius throws his hands up in the air, and my mouth drops open when I finally understand this strange phenomenon.

"Aelius," I say.

He stops mid-rant. "What?" He shouts. "What could it possibly be now?"

"Aelius, your hands." I say, pointing.

Aelius brings his hands down to his chest. He is still panting hard, but his breathing stops completely once he notices the condition of his hands.

They are glowing.

"What in the Gods…" Aelius blinks a few times. When he resumes breathing, it is deep and ragged. I see his eyes slowly trace the rivers of light flowing into his hands. His pupils are wide with fear.

The crystals in the ceiling finally die out, and the only light in the room now comes from my brother's glowing hands and the slow meandering rivers of light that flow into them. The white light coming from Aelius's hands is enough to illuminate the room around us, and the light from the streams illuminates the walls and ceiling.

"Iulia," Aelius says softly. I look at him, and realize that he is looking at me. "What is happening to me?"

I look at my brother. When we were younger, and we first found out that Aelius could change things into pure energy, we had attributed that to his great potential as an Energybender. No one could explain how he did it, but that was fine. People have only been capable of Energybending for the past forty years. It is possible that several aspects of the art have yet to be discovered.

More than possible, I realize. It just happened.

"Aelius, you just figured out a new Energybending technique." I say, trying to keep from jumping up and down with joy and excitement.

Aelius looks at his hands. The streams of light have been totally absorbed now, and his hands glow bright with a white light. "It feels… weird." He says, examining his newfound power.

An idea strikes me, and I swiftly move over to Aelius's knife target. I take a deep breath and pick it up by the rope that connected it to the ceiling. I lift it so that the rope is close enough to the portion of rope still hanging from the ceiling, and I tie a knot to reconnect the target to the rope.

Then I move out of Aelius's way, and feel the flutter of discovery inside of my chest. "Energybend on the target, Ael. Lets see what you can do."

Aelius turns around and looks at the target. It's styled to look like a human torso, and it even has a head with dull eye sockets. It should be easy for him to hit the target with his Energybending, but I still see some doubt in his eyes. In the glow of his hands, I can just barely make out his expression. He is solemn, and not at all excited as I am about what is occurring.

"What should I do?" He asks.

"Just throw a sphere at it, or something." I say. I can't keep my energy out of my voice.

Aelius closes his eyes. A few moments go by, and I wonder if he is going to do anything, but then he pulls back his arm and forms a fist with his hand. He turns his body back and then snaps his arm forward.

A massive flash of orange light illuminates the room, then a thunderous _crack_ and a _boom_ roar so loud I swear the walls shake. The force from the explosion knocks me off of my feet, and I collide with the wall behind me. I close my eyes in an attempt to shield them from the flash of light. I feel myself fall to my knees, and my hands instinctively move to cover my ears.

When I open my eyes, I can't see a thing. I feel my heart pounding in my chest. _Oh Gods, _I realize. _I've gone blind._

Dark purple and green shapes move in front of my eyes, but they are the only things I can see. Desperate to see again, I hurriedly pull one of my hands from my ears and open my hand. I sigh in relief as a glowing orb pops into existence above my palm, and I can see again.

I look around the room. The light from my sphere isn't enough to illuminate it all, so on an instinct I shoot three quick energy spheres at the three largest crystals I can see embedded into the ceiling. The crystals absorb the light, and soon intensify to their normal levels.

I can now see the room clearly. Aelius is lying back against the wall directly opposite the knife target, his eyes panicked and darting around the room. I rush over to him and grab him by the shoulders. His quick breaths let me know that he can breath, and when he looks at me I know that he can see.

"Aelius, are you ok?" I ask, making sure my brother didn't suffer brain damage.

My heart drops as Aelius's only response is to slowly raise a hand, which is no longer glowing, to point behind me. _Gods,_ I curse inside my head. _He hit his head hard._

"Aelius, it is going to be alright," I say loudly and slowly.

Aelius looks at me like I've grown another head. "I'm fine Iul, but turn around."

My heart lifts inside of me when Aelius talks, but my mouth drops when I turn around. Where the target once was is now only a rope hanging from the ceiling. The wood covering the wall behind the rope has a large hole in the center of it, and I can see that a chunk of the marble wall behind _that _is missing as well. I look around the room and see marble shards, wood splinters, and pieces of the target scattered around every corner.

"Oh," is all I can say.

Aelius sighs sadly behind me. "I'll get the broom."


	13. Part Two: The Mission (II)

"_Love is brightest in the dark."_

_ -Inscription on the entrance to the Cave of Two Lovers_

I look down at my hands as soon as I leave the room. The tingling from being so close to the blast has yet to leave me, and I suspect that it will follow me like an evil spirit for quite some time. Shooting that orange energy felt like I was breathing fire from my hand. I felt like I had to get it all out of me, all the anger and shame that I had bottled up inside, and I did.

Only to have it replaced by fear.

_By the Gods_, I ask myself, _what is happening to me?_

As I stumble through the hallways, I recall what my father told me in the hospital room. Each step pulls me further into the memory, even though I desperately try to yank myself out of the recollection.

_"Aelius_," he had said. With the two black-armored Imperial Guardians behind him, I already knew that the conversation was serious. _"Something is happening to you, and we have no idea what it is."_

_"Dad, I don't know either." _I said from my hospital bed._ "All I know is that one second some man in a purple robe is walking through the meditation hall, and he looked at me and then I passed out." _I turn a corner in the hallway, and the memory keeps pounding inside of my mind.

_"You need to forget that you ever saw that man, my son. He is one of the secrets of our people, and without him we would not be able to survive the way we do." _My father had been expressionless, his voice as commanding and authoritative as the two black armored guards behind him.

_"Secrets?" _I had shouted._ "We don't have any secrets from our own people! We are supposed to be one big family, one big community! We're a minority and we have to sell ourselves to keep from being hunted!" _I walk on trembling feet in the direction of the estate's central living room.

_"Aelius, you will be silent, and you will listen to me!"_ My father had shouted._ "You must, I tell you, must forget that you ever saw that man! He is dangerous and not to be trifled with!" _His face had been red, and his breath had come in unsteady pants.

_"Who in the Gods is he then!" _I had yelled right back at him.

_"He is the future!" _My father slammed his hand against the screen of a _heartbeat_ monitor. He fumed for a few seconds, maniac fire in his eyes, but then he took a deep breath. His eyes closed, and for a few minutes, I could hear nothing but my own heartbeat and his deep breathing. When he opened his eyes again, they were emotionless and cold. _"Leave us," _he turned and ordered the two Imperial Guardians. With heel-clicks, they turned and left the room, the door sliding shut behind them.

I sit on one of the couches in the living room. The white plush furniture molds to my shape as I slowly lay down on it. I look at the high vaulted ceiling, and my eyes retrace the familiar lines and patterns above me. A large white crystal chandelier blocks part of the ceiling from my view.

_"Aelius," _my father says from my memories,_ "the world is in chaos. As an Energybender, you need to try to cleanse the chaos from the world. It is your duty." _I see my father's face in the cold white marble above my head._ "That is why the Gods gave us the power to control the purest of elements. We are here to purify the world."_

_"How?" _I had asked. I had heard my father talk about our duties as Energybenders before, but never with such solemn seriousness.

_"In time, you will learn." _was all he said. His eyes closed again, and I thought he had fallen asleep.

_"What's happening, Dad?" _I recall myself asking him after a few more minutes of silence. I close my eyes and listen to the faint gurgle of the hallway fountain. The water is calming, and I feel my heart rate slowing.

_"The day you and your sister were born," _My father's voice was as smooth and calm as the gurgling fountain. I keep my eyes closed._ "Your mother and I knew that both of our children would be special." _I bitterly smile at my father's words. They had given me a warm feeling inside, but that would be shattered within minutes.

My father, with his soft voice and calm expression, stabbed the very core of my being._ "When your sister seemed to be able to read minds, we were terrified of what people would think of her." _

_When we learned that you could change things, from stone to fire to water and air, into pure energy, we were so scared we considered going into hiding for a few years. We didn't know what our children were becoming." _I had been speechless. In that moment, I knew that if my father had opened his eyes, he would not have been recognizable to me. I had nothing to say when he kept talking.

_"But when your mother died, I knew that you and Iulia would have to be the hope that the world needed. Her last words were that I had to protect you two with all of my heart, and I have tried to do that. Gods, how I have tried. _

_"The forces at work in the world now, Aelius," _He then said, opening his eyes to reveal dark grey pits,_ "they are even more dangerous than the people that killed your mother. Things are happening all over the world, terrible things. People are dying by the thousands, and not just those that are fighting for their Nation. People are having bombs dropped onto their houses, their families taken and being forced to work in slave camps, women being taken from their husbands and being passed around for the victor's pleasure._

_"You and your sister need to help change that. The suffering in this world, the chaos, the brutality, needs to be purged. Someone needs to take the power of the world into their hands and end this war and the strife and suffering that divides the Four Nations. Our people, my son, are in the middle of it all. We have the perfect opportunity to do so." _My father paused, and blinked a few times as if he was surprised at what he had just said. I was as surprised as he was, but I was furious too. My father had not even had the guts to look me in the eyes and tell me that when I was a child he was scared of me. I was still fuming about that, and I still am.

_"Then why do we fight for each of the Nations?" _I had asked, letting my anger fuel my words._ "Why do we sell our bodies like whores to the highest bidder?"_ I could feel my body trembling in anger.

_"People have families to feed." _ My father said, closing his eyes again._ "And some people will do anything to provide for their children."_

I had been silent for a few moments, feeling my anger boil inside of me. I eventually stood up and started walking towards the door, beyond my father. "_And some people don't deserve to have children." _I said, not bothering to look at the man behind me.

I feel my body shaking now, disturbed by the rough memory. I feel my lungs jerking with uncontrollable sobs. My father was right to be afraid of me. I cannot be human. I can shoot explosive energy from my hands, I can suck the light out of a room, and I can change anything into energy that just drifts away into the air. I cannot control any of it; I cannot even control myself.

I realize that I have closed my eyes. I open them, and find that my eyesight is blurry. I am not surprised to find that I have been crying throughout my recollection of my father's conversation. I have been crying a lot recently. I am weak, undeserving of the gift the Gods have given me. Iulia is wrong to think that I can improve, because all I am is a failure.

I am a failure.

I barely hear the footsteps when they come. My sobs almost drown them out.

"Aelius?" A faint voice asks. I do not look at the source. I do not feel like moving. Perhaps I can just die here, right now, on this white couch, and be forgotten by the entire world.

"Are you okay?" The voice asks again. I close my eyes, willing my body to just give up on trying to survive, because I know that I cannot. My body fights me by keeping my heart beating and my lungs working of their own accord.

I hear footsteps that grow louder, and then I feel my head sink down as someone sits close to it on the couch. _Please_, I silently beg of the voice, _kill me now. Release me from the cruel world that I have no place in._

The voice does the opposite. I feel strong arms lifting me up, and then pulling me back across the couch. The arms are unfamiliar to me, but they are warm and comforting. I do not fight them or the sobs that still rack my chest.

The arms wrap around my chest in an embrace. I feel a chin, curved and smooth, put itself against my shoulder. Warm breaths brush against my ear, and long strands of thick hair tickle my face.

"Just let it out," the voice says. I still cannot put a name to the voice, but it must be some sort of being sent by the Gods to bring me back to them. "It'll be alright."

I open my eyes after a few sobs. I look down at the arms, and through the blurry tears coating my eyes, I see two red sleeves and crimson fingernails. A name comes into my head, but in my condition, I cannot remember it completely. I instead can only feel the arms around my body and the heartbeat against my back.

I spend a few moments trying to calm down. The heat against my body helps bring life back into me. It is like a fire was rekindled inside of my brain, and it burns away all the pain and sorrow that my father made me feel. As the ashes blow away inside my mind, I remember the name.

The girl whose life I saved.

The girl who now has saved me.

"Cathra," I say, but it is more of a whisper. I feel the words drift away from my lips like a leaf in the summer wind.

"I'm here, Aelius." The girl says into my ear. Her words are a comforting fire that worms into my brain and gives me a feeling that I have never truly felt before; the feeling of gratitude.

Neither of us says anything. What could we say? She came across me crying in the living room, and decided that she would help me. Iulia would have just decided that I needed space and left me alone. My own sister, who knows me better than anyone else in the world, would not have known that I needed her right now. This girl, who I have only known for a few days, saw me and knew that I needed someone to hold me and pick up the pieces of me that were broken.

Pieces that I had never even known were broken are now a part of me again. All it took was a touch.

Cathra takes a deep breath and exhales warm words. "What's wrong?" she asks. The words tunnel into my very center, they bounce around inside my head, and they carve a niche into my throat.

"I am." I say, my words scratchy and weak.

"How?" Cathra asks. Neither her nor I move. Having her arms around me reminds me of the way my mother used to hold me when I was younger. It's a comforting memory.

"I don't know who I am anymore." I whisper. My words are the pure truth, and they bring a few tears out of my eyes. I stare at a singular point outside, past the pool, past the gardens, and way beyond the white marble walls that outline the estate. I look at the wall of the cavern. Tiny white crystals embedded in the tunnel walls glow back at me.

"No one knows who they are, Aelius," the way Cathra whispers my name makes my heart pound. The pounding fights against the sobs before they can rise up out of my chest. The girl continues speaking, and I feel her chin move up and down with every word. "That's what life is for. To find out who you are."

A crystal, over two miles away from me right now, draws my attention. It shines brighter than all the other crystals around it. The blue stone that surrounds it is not visible because the light is so bright. My eyes hurt a bit looking at it, but I do not look away. Right now I need a light to hold on to, something to remind me that I am alive.

Cathra's heart beats softly against my back. "I know who you are though, Aelius." Her words have an unfamiliar fire to them. Her arms leave my chest, and a animal panic runs through me. I am so scared that she left me that I turn around. She is still there, and her crimson eyes burn with a smoldering fire. "You are Aelius of the Impera Clan, and you saved my life two times within the past week, and never once did you ask for anything in return."

I close my eyes. "Anyone would have saved you, because-"

"No." Cathra says with such force that I open my eyes, afraid that she is going to hit me. "A good half of the world would have let me die, because I am going to be Fire Lady one day, and they would rather see the Fire Nation burn to the ground than thrive for more than a day."

Cathra leans closer to me, and I feel her warm breath on my face. Her face is only a few inches away from mine, and her eyes are burning into mine with a deep fire. "You're a mystery to me, Aelius, because you can do amazing things, and yet you don't want to."

Her words burn into my mind. She is right, but it does not bother me because of how true it is. "I'm afraid I'm going to hurt someone." I say. The words just burst out of my mouth, and I close my eyes in an attempt to halt their exit. It does not work. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want-"

A warmness brushes against my lips, unsure at first, but then it seems to find its strength. I stop talking, and just give in to the rush that I feel coursing through my body. I realize, after a few split seconds of gentle probing, that the warm is two thick lips planted against my own. Cathra's lips.

I feel a rush of fire hammer into my heart. The feeling is familiar to me. I felt it for the first time after I saved her life from the truck. I was unsure of what it was at the time, and part of me was afraid of it. Now, however, it gives me life, and kindles the energy inside of my own heart.

I do not know how long the kiss lasts, nor do I care. It might last a few seconds, it might last a few minutes, and it might last my entire eternity. I know that when it is done, I open my eyes to find Cathra doing the exact same thing. Her eyes are no longer smoldering cinders; now they are passionate fires. I feel her quick breaths against my throat, and I realize how close we still are.

"I think I know why I saved you," I say softly. The words slide out of my mouth like water that has finally found the path of least resistance. "I think it's because I love you."

What happens next is a blur. I feel two strong arms pushing me back, and my back lands against the soft plush couch. Then Cathra, with her long black hair falling past her face, is above me. Her head is surrounded with a white halo from the crystal chandelier above us. She leans closer to me, and plants her lips on mine once more. I feel her chest lower itself down onto mine, and her heartbeat drums against mine.

"That's okay," she says after a few seconds. I close my eyes, and her warm voice reminds of the feeling of a soft fire on my face. "Because I know that I love you."

We kiss again, this time even more passionate than before. Her fire courses through my entire body, and my heart welcomes the warm that it brings. Her lips and mine gently caress each other, and I feel my hand moving of it is own accord to press her harder against my chest. She responds with hungrier kisses that I return right back to her.

I do not know when it happens, but the kisses stop. It does not bother me, because we both fall asleep. In my dreams, I feel a gentle heartbeat under my arm, and with each deep breath, I smell exotic flowers. It feels like paradise.

I love it.

* * *

"Oh, Gods," a voice says in my dreams. I open my eyes and see Iulia standing in front of the couch. Her arms are crossed in front of her, but she has a smile on her face. She shakes her head slowly. "All I wanted was a broom, Aelius."

I close my eyes and take another deep breath full of the smell of Cathra's hair.

"Well," Iulia's voice calls out to me before I fall asleep. "At least you both kept your clothes on.


	14. Part Two: The Mission (III)

"_Do you deserve a promotion? Do you really? Ask yourself if you are meant for it, and if you can answer yourself you are a liar."_

_-Admiral Sozin to Captain Lihoung, Flight Bridge of the F.L.A Crowfoot_

In my dreams, a warm power flows through my blood. I feel it enter me, right above my heart. My heart beats with each surge of the energy, and it invigorates me with a strength I never knew could exist. It's like something from another world, but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I love the sensation.

"Ok, last time I'm going to say it. One of you is going to wake up, because we do have things to do today."

The voice is commanding, and I'm not sure I know who it belongs to. It may not even be real, and it could just be a figment of my dreams. I ignore it, and return to my dreamworld.

Then the voice pulls me back out. "Damn it you two, I would really appreciate some cooperation right now."

I open my eyes. The first thing I notice is Aelius's comforting muscled arm around my chest. His hand is right over my heart, and I move one of my hands to cover his. His hand is warm to the touch, and I love how it feels against me.

Then I notice Iulia, wearing a plain white robe, standing in front of the couch that Aelius and I fell asleep on. Her hair is pushed behind her ears, and I see that she is wearing her silver circlet with the pulsating purple gem. The light of the gem entrances me, and it glows softly as if it knows that is has grasped my attention.

"About time." Iulia pulls my attention away from her circlet. "We need to get moving. Busy day."

Her words confuse me. "Huh?" I ask.

Iulia closes her eyes. "Princess," she says. "You leave for the Fire Nation today, and you still have to pack your belongings and meet Master Marcian at the airfield by noon." She rubs the bridge of her nose.

Slowly, I begin to recall yesterdays events. My mind works backwards, starting with the amazing kissing session that Aelius and I had and ending at seeing the Regia. Then I remember that in the middle of all that, Master Marcian asked to see me and told me something. What did she tell me again?

"Princess Cathra?"

"Huh?" I ask. I shudder when I realize how un-royal I sound. A princess should never say _huh_, and I just said it two times in a row.

"You need to get your things together." Iulia says. Her eyes are still closed. I can tell she's trying very hard not to get frustrated with me. She doesn't seem upset to find her twin brother and I sleeping together on the couch in the living room.

Aelius's hand moves slightly, and I realize that all the talking woke him up. I feel his chest stretch behind me. "I guess I had better pack too."

His words light a small flame inside of me. I turn around and look at him, a smile wide across my face. "You're coming?" I ask eagerly.

Aelius smiles sleepily. "Of course." He moves his head forward and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. Before I can return it, he moves back. "It's about time I went on an adventure."

I feel my heart beat as though electricity was running through my body. "Well then we had both," I move closer to Aelius and rub my nose against his. "better prepare."

I hear a cough behind me. "Gods, at least have the decency not to do this in front of me." I can hear Iulia's eyes roll in her voice.

Aelius pushes himself into an upright position. "Iulia, could you do me a really big favor and fix something for breakfast that we can eat on the go?"

I turn and look at Iulia. I move into an upright position, and Aelius puts his arm around my waist. My heart pounds again.

Iulia shakes her head at her brother. "I had breakfast ready an hour ago." She says. "And I ate it. All of it." Iulia smiles.

Aelius sighs. "Fine." He lets go of my waist and gets up off the couch. With one final look at me and a warm smile, he turns and walks out of the living room. I watch him go longingly. His muscles move under his muscle shirt with each lively swing of his arms.

"Well, that's new." Iulia says from behind me. I turn around to see her looking at Aelius as well.

"What is?" I ask, clueless.

Iulia visibly snaps out of her thoughts with a shake of her head. "Nothing its just…" she tilts her head in the direction Aelius just left in. "He never moves his arms that much when he walks." Iulia seems to ponder her words for a few moments, and then she looks at me. "Two rules, Princess Cathra." She says sternly.

Iulia holds up one manicured finger. "One, no sex. I will not have my brother sire the next heir of the Fire Nation."

I feel my mouth drop open, but before I can say anything Iulia has already held up her second finger. "Two, you break his heart and I'll break your body. Now," Iulia smiles, and unlike some of her smiles before, it is genuine. "You need to get packing."

* * *

The elevator ride back up to the Regia is much different than the one that brought me down to Elysium. Aelius is with us this time, and he makes a point to stay close to me. In return, I make a point to stay close to him. Iulia is much kinder to me, telling me all about the most recent fashion in Elysium. She was pleased, in a weird sort of way, when she saw me walking out of my room before we left wearing a white skirt with a crimson red top. "Oh!" she had said. "That's a perfect mix for you!"

When the elevator opens out into the white halls of the Regia, Iulia is in the middle of a sentence. "-But you never want to wear _too _much silk in Elysium, because then people think you're trying to show off. Grey fabrics are _all _the rage."

"I don't see why people care so much." Aelius says from behind me. His soft and deep voice sends a warm shiver down my spine. "We all wear robes anyways."

I step out of the elevator, and Aelius and Iulia follow suit. Iulia takes the lead, and Aelius and I follow her through many winding hallways. Some people are bustling about the Regia, but a majority of them are Energy Guardians. A few people hurry past in white robes, but we pay them no attention. They all move out of our way.

Iulia finally leads us through a large set of double doors. We enter a bright parking garage with several white cars parked inside. One of them is a medium-sized white van, and two white-armored guards are standing outside of it. An attendant wearing matching grey pants and a dress shirt is waiting outside of the van, a grey cap under the crook of his arm. He bows at the waist when he sees us approach.

"Princess Cathra! Lord and Lady Impera!" The attendant says energetically. The two Guardians do not share his attitude and remain silent.

The attendant scurries over to Aelius and I and takes our duffle bags from us. "I'll just take these." He says with a smile on his face. He has no trouble with my bag, but he grunts a bit when he picks up Aelius's bag. He puts Aelius's bag in the back of the van first, and then puts mine in.

"What did you bring?" I ask Aelius when he helps me up into the van. He doesn't need to, but I appreciate it. He is a gentleman.

Aelius grins as he pulls himself into the car behind me. "Armor, some weapons. A few other things."

Iulia opens the front passenger door and gets into her seat. "Gods, Aelius, you brought a quarter of your armory with you."

Aelius just laughs as the attendant closes the door behind Iulia and then the door Aelius and I entered. "Always prepared." He says.

The attendant quickly moves around the front of the van to open the drivers' side door. He hops up into the seat, buckles his seatbelt, and puts on his grey cap in one fluid motion. He turns the ignition, and we begin backing out.

I realize that we seem to have lost our Energy Guardian escorts. When I ask Aelius about it, he points out the front window. "They are right there," he says. "Look for the bright light."

Puzzled by his words, I look out the window. As soon as I do, I hear two low _hums_, and I see two white shapes appear out of nowhere and speed out of the parking garage. They both take up positions on either side of the van, and I look out the window closest to me.

A Guardian is sitting on what appears to be a motorcycle. Instead of wheels, however, the front and back of the bike has a large circular disk that cups a large white energy sphere. The hover bike, for that is the only way I can possibly describe it, floats at least a foot off the ground.

"Whoa." is all I can say. Aelius and Iulia laugh.

We pull out of the Regia through a large gate that I didn't see before. The two hover bike-riding Guardians move to the front and back of us and lead us through the busy city.

Iulia speaks after a few minutes of silence. "We're going right now to the Crescent Moon district to look for the Admiral that the Fire Lord wants to bring back to the Fire Nation."

"Admiral Sozin?" I ask.

"Yes." Iulia says. "Apparently he runs a teashop in the Moon district."

This surprises me. "Admiral Sozin was one of the greatest airship commanders in the latest years of Fire Lord Zuko's reign. He has to be old by now."

Aelius grins and pokes my playfully in the side. "People typically get older as time goes on, Cat."

I grin when he calls me by the diminutive. The little things count. I poke him back. "I won't." I joke. "I'll live forever and ever."

Aelius and I both laugh. I find his hand, and I grab it. After a few moments hesitation, he closes his fingers around mine. I smile.

We ride in the van for about ten minutes when we enter the Crescent Moon district. Aelius points out the dirty buildings as we go by them. "The Crescent Moon district," he tells me. "Used to be one of the best places to live in the city."

"What happened to it?" I ask.

Aelius shrugs. "No one really knows." He says. "It pretty much started going downhill when the war started."

We drive by a few men fighting on a sidewalk. One of the man hits another with a glass bottle. We go past before I can see how the fight turns out. "Some place." I say.

After a few minutes, the van comes to a halt outside a bright building. It seems so out of place in the grimy district. The attendant opens his door and rushes around to open the passenger's side door, and then the back door so that Aelius and I can get out.

Aelius gets out of the van first, and I can see him turning his head and scanning the street. A few people have stopped what they were doing to look at us. Some of the characters seem a bit shady, but when the Energy Guardians take up positions flanking Aelius, the shady ones look away quickly.

Aelius holds his hand out for me and helps me down out of the van. "Such a gentleman," I say. I give him a quick peck on the lips and a smile. Aelius's silver eyes are warm and glimmer in the morning sun.

Iulia gets out of the van. "Enough kissing, you two." She says. "I think I might puke." Her voice is joking, and I can tell that she is happy for Aelius. I just smile.

We follow Iulia around the van and into the teashop. A sign on the door says "Golden Dragon Café." Inside the shop is a good-sized main room with wooden chairs and tables scattered around it. I can see an empty spot of the cafe that looks like a table was there recently. Why they moved it, I do not know. Considering the surrounding area, it was probably stolen.

A girl, wearing blue shorts and a blue vest over her sky blue shirt, approaches us. Her hair is long, and two brown strands of it are braided to either side of her head. Her eyes are a bright blue, and they contrast oddly with her dirty face. She is a little bit taller than I am, and she looks like she has been in a lot of fights and came out on top of most of them.

"Can I help you?" She says. She asks Iulia the question, but her eyes glance over Aelius and I. She spends a little more time looking at Aelius than I am comfortable with. I distract her by adjusting the topknot on the top of my head.

"We're looking for Admiral Sozin." Iulia says. She clasps her hands behind her simple white robe. "We were told we could find him here."

The girl takes a step back. "We don't want any trouble," she says. Her voice takes a hostile note to it. "Whoever sent you, just tell them we don't want anymore trouble."

I look at the girl quizzically. "We're just here to see the Admiral," I say. "That's all."

The girl looks at me. "What are you, some kind of royalty?" she asks, her eyes on my topknot and the Fire Nation symbol holding it in place.

I bow to the girl. "I am Princess Cathra of the Fire Nation."

The girl snorts in derision. "And I'm Terumi of the Crescent Moon People."

I ignore the girl's sarcasm. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Terumi."

An old man wearing a gold apron steps out of a door in the back of the café. "Oh, customers!" He says. He takes a few steps forward, and then his eyes dart to my topknot. He immediately prostrates himself on the ground. "Princess!" He exclaims.

Iulia takes a step forward. "Are you Admiral Sozin?" She asks. Her immediate reaction surprises me. I am the one supposed to be acting like royalty. Maybe royalty is supposed to be silent. I would not know; I have always been bad at acting royal.

The brown haired girl, Terumi, steps in between Iulia and the old man. "So what if he is?" She asks. Her voice sounds like she's been yelling her entire life. It's a rough voice, but from the way her eyes dart around the room I can tell that it's only rough because she is afraid of us.

"I'm sorry for coming to bother you-" I start.

"Good." Terumi says, crossing her arms over her chest.

I do not pause. "But my father, Fire Lord Ursan, requests Admiral Sozin's presence immediately back in the Fire Nation?" I look at Terumi with an expression I hope is commanding without any hostility.

Either its too hostile or Terumi doesn't care, because the next words out of her mouth are "So what?"

"Terumi!" The old man barks from the floor. He gets up from his deferential position and approaches us. "That is no way to speak to a guest, let alone the heir Princess of the Fire Nation, _let alone_ about her father the Firelord!"

Terumi visibly softens. She looks at the floor. "Yes, Admiral." She mutters under her breath. I look at the old man again. He still has an aura of command and wisdom around him that I assume come from his many years of experience. It is no wonder why my father wants him back in the Fire Nation. I wish, though, I knew what I was going back home for.

Iulia starts talking to the Admiral about travel arrangements. I don't pay attention to what she's saying, because my eyes have started drifting across the café. Scattered around the walls are paintings and loose sketches. My eyes focus on a painting of the Fire Nation Capitol. It makes me homesick, which is not a normal thing for me.

My eyes slowly move to the next picture. It is an ink painting of a dragon twisting through the silver clouds while fire rolls down the back of the creature. The entire sketch looks as though it was painted right on top of a body of moving water, and the lines and curves of the ink just happened to go into the right places. The ink looks as though it is painted in waves.

"That's an amazing picture," Aelius says from behind me. I turn around and realize I had walked away from the group while Iulia was talking.

"Ya." I say softly. I turn back to the painting. "It's as though the ink just decided to go to the right places."

"You like it?" Terumi comes up behind us "I drew it myself." I turn around to look at her and I can see pride in her eyes. She is standing close to Aelius and looking up at him.

Aelius turns his attention to Terumi, and I feel a fire rise up in my chest. "It's a masterful work." He says.

Aelius turns around and returns his focus to Iulia and the Admiral. Terumi, however, does not turn around. She remains facing my direction.

I glare at the girl's light blue eyes as a small smirk grows upon her face.

* * *

**A/N: **These past two chapters have been odd. I'll admit it. More than one reader has PM'ed me referring to the "speed" of the last chapter and the relationship between Cathra and Aelius and how it seems artificial. Part of the theme of this story is my opinion on teenage romance; it is a complicated thing for the parties involved, especially if it is their first time having a romantic relationship. The relationship between Aelius and Cathra is one of those awkward first-time relationships.

As always, feel free to either message me your questions or comments or feel free to review! I appreciate anything and everything!


	15. Part Two: The Mission (IV)

_"There is more than one way to skin a komodo rhino. The first is to tear its flesh from it's body, the second is to persuade someone else to tear it off for you, and the third is to ask the beast to shed it's skin."_

_-Earth King Taishua during a speech to members of the Dai Li. _

Packing is quick and simple. It always has been for me, considering my only belongings are two pairs of clothes, a jacket, a ring, and my shoes. Everything that I am not wearing will easily fit into the burlap sack that Admiral Sozin fetched me from the Café's kitchen. The sack smells like a bit like flour. It will do.

As I bundle my clothes up, I listen to the conversation downstairs.

"I don't see why she has to come, too." I recognize the whiney tone of the Fire Nation Princess.

"The Admiral requested it." A deep and strong voice replies. It belongs to the tall and handsome Energybender that I immediately have nicknamed "Tall and Handsome."

"Do you want her to go or something?" The Princess asks rudely.

"What?" Tall and Handsome replies. "Why would I want her to go?"

"You seem to like her artwork."

"So what?"

I try to hold back a laugh. Are they seriously arguing about the Admiral asking if I could accompany him? All he had said was that he wanted his assistant (by whom he meant me) to go with him.

"Will you two stop it?" The singsong voice belongs to the girl with silver hair. I like her voice, her hair, and her cool demeanor.

I finish packing, walk out of my closet/bedroom, and go downstairs. The conversation (argument) stops immediately once the stairs begin to creak under the weight of my feet. Each slow creak makes Tall and Handsome and the Fire Nation Princess twinge, as if it reminds them of the awkwardness of their argument.

Funny, because all it does is making me smile more.

"Oh, I do enjoy a good vacation!" Admiral Sozin says from the top of the stairs. I turn around and see the old man in an outrageously vibrant t-shirt with a floral pattern and swimming shorts. I can't help but laugh while the Admiral tosses a large bag down the entire flight of stairs. It lands with a _clink_ at the bottom. "Can one of you young and energetic youngsters grab that for me? My back is not what it used to be."

Silver Haired Girl blinks a few times. I can tell that she is trying very hard not to laugh from the way her lips twitch. The Princess and Tall and Handsome, on the other hand, seem to be more interested in finding dirt under their fingernails than paying attention to what is going on around them. The Princess obviously has some sort of jealously problem. She is probably used to getting what she wants all the time without any competition.

I throw a coy smile in the direction of Tall and Handsome. He sees it, and he blinks a few times and shakes his head as though disbelieving. His look all but says "Well, okay then." I raise an eyebrow suggestively like I have seen women in the Crescent Moon district do when trying to make money. His response is to raise one of his eyebrows as though I am from a different planet.

I turn around and pick up the Admiral's bag. I purse my lips in frustration, not because the bag is heavy, but because Tall and Handsome is obviously playing hard to get. That is fine. Nothing worth having in life comes without working for it.

I pass Tall and Handsome and his friends on my way out the front door. A funny short man wearing grey clothing hurries to open the back door of a white van parked outside the Café. He gestures into the back, and I put the Admiral's large pink duffel bag on top of two other large duffel bags. On top of them all, I put my sack

"You can bring your food up front and eat on the way, ma'am." The grey man says upon seeing my bag.

"Those are my clothes." I say. The man gives me an odd look and then shrugs awkwardly as though relieving himself of his mistake.

I close my eyes and shake my head. People outside the Crescent Moon district have no idea what it is like to be as poor as we are. We steal, kill, sell ourselves, and beg enough money just to get us a cold meal at night. We do not live happy lives. We are not pampered like the bureaucrats that live in the upper districts, we do not have servants to carry out our every demand like they do in the Fire and Earth Nations, and we barely have enough light at night to see where the next punch is coming from. Everyone else takes what they have for granted, and it sickens me.

"I guess everyone is ready to go." A voice says from behind me. I turn around and see the girl with silver hair. Her hair is parted to either side of her face allowing me to see her pulsating circlet. I nod. She opens the passenger door for me, and I get into the far back seat. After a few minutes, Admiral Sozin slowly gets into the van. He struggles with his seatbelt so I help buckle him in.

Next in are the Princess and Tall and Handsome. The tall Energybender politely moves out of the way of the Princess so she can get in first. The Princess merely closes her eyes, sticks her nose up in the air, and does nothing to acknowledge his existence. Tall and Handsome rolls his eyes and gets in the van.

Admiral Sozin leans over towards me. "It seems that our escorts are having trouble keeping themselves together." He whispers.

I look at the back of Tall and Handsome's head. "Who is going to take care of the shop while you are gone?" I ask the Admiral.

He closes his eyes and bows his head slowly. "Ah, fear not my friend. My apprentice, Langhezhou, is more than capable to manage the Golden Dragon in my absence." The Admiral smiles. "Even though his tea is not quite up to snuff, his management skills are of the highest caliber."

And with that, the old man lies back against his seat and begins to snore.

I look at him and blink a few times. That was fast, impressively fast. I wish I could fall asleep in the blink of an eye.

The van begins to move. I realize that the attendant who thought my bag of clothes was a bag of food is also driving the van. I look out the window and see my home flying past me. I don't wave to anyone, I don't feel homesick, and I most certainly do not ask if we can stop and say goodbye to anyone. The only person I care about in the world is asleep next to me.

A white armored Energybender whizzes past us on a white hoverbike. I have seen plenty of them before, so the sight does not amaze me. Energy Guardians are a common sight in the Crescent Moon district. I think they have a barracks or something of the like in the very center of the district. I have seen the building a few times over the years. It looks like a total dump, but I have always had the feeling that it only looks that way on the outside.

Once, I saw an Energy Guardian wearing purple and gold armor walking into the building. No one believed me when I told them because no one has ever seen an Energybender wear those colors before. Wearing purple is a form of heresy to them, because they see it to be the color of complete purity and wearing it implies that the wearer is completely pure. Not even the four Energybending Masters dare to wear the color.

The van takes us all throughout the city. I see huge buildings with nice walls and pretty signs that probably cost more than the houses in the Crescent Moon district. The people that I can see are all clean and wearing colorful clothing that represents whichever Nation they are from. I see rainbows of blues, greens, reds, oranges, and even two or three whites. The sheer diversity of Republic City amazes me. The Four Nations war is a far-away thing here. It doesn't affect our life, so we don't let it bother us. The Four Nations can live in harmony, and Republic City is proof.

Several times throughout the twenty-minute ride, Tall and Handsome tries to make small talk with the Fire Nation Princess.

"That's a cool looking car."

"Mhm."

"Wow, look at how low oil prices are now!"

"Mhm."

"Do they have stores like that in the Fire Nation?"

"Mhm."

"What's wrong?"

"Shut up."

"What? What the hell did I do?" Tall and Handsome asks.

"Don't talk to me." The Princess says, turning and looking out the window.

Tall and Handsome seems to give up, and slouches in his seat so far I can only see the top of his head. "You have got to be kidding me…" he mutters under his breath.

Eventually the scenery changes from brick and plaster buildings to large warehouses. We have reached the docks, which means that we will be going to the Fire Nation by boat. That is an odd choice of transportation, but I guess it makes sense. An airship can be shot down and doom every occupant, while a boat gives plenty of time to evacuate. It still seems a lot slower, though. I mentally shrug. Fire Nation logic.

The docks are full of huge ships of every type, from cargo ships to personal yachts and even a few warships. The van parks near a cluster of three black metal warships and the grey attendant opens the doors to let us out. I grab my bag of clothes from the top of the pile, go, and stand by the edge of the dock. The middle boat of the three is larger than the others, and the front of it has a golden dragon as its figurehead. I assume, from the ornate figurehead, patrolling Firebenders, and massive flag flapping from the top of the control tower, that it is the Princess's personal ship.

A group of Firebenders wearing red armor with gold trimming steps off the boat and begins marching towards us. In the middle of the group is a middle-aged woman wearing a white cloak with red lines running up and down the arms and skirt. As they get closer to us, I notice the woman's bright red lipstick.

"Princess Cathra!" The woman exclaims. Her voice is ragged and coarse. "I wondered when you would get here! We were beginning to get worried."

The Princess doesn't respond, and she passes by me. She snaps her fingers and points to one of the Firebenders. "Grab my bag." She says while she passes the group. The guard immediately jogs over to get the bag. The rest of the Firebenders enclose the Princess in a tight formation while she makes her way to her ship.

The woman in the white and red cloak is left standing on the dock. She looks past me in the direction of the van. "Is something bothering the Princess?" She asks.

"Master Marcian, I can honestly say we've been trying to figure that out for the past thirty minutes now." I recognize the voice of the silver haired girl. The girl comes up behind me and bows before the woman in white.

The woman bows back. "Aelius, did you say something to her?"

I hear the voice of Tall and Handsome respond. "Last thing I said was that Admiral Sozin's assistant made a nice painting. And now she's like this."

I try to cover my smile with my hand. Serves that pampered Princess right. I am a poor orphan girl living on my own in the roughest place in Republic City and I can paint a picture better than she can. She is probably jealous of me.

_Aelius._ Tall and Handsome has a name as mysterious and handsome as he is. It sounds foreign, but that is normal for Energybenders. They have names that stand out from the other Four Nations. No one knows where the Energybenders got them from, but they sound ancient.

The woman in white, whom I assume is Master Marcian, shakes her head. "Girls are sensitive, Aelius."

I turn around to see Admiral Sozin walking over towards Master Marcian. "Ah, Master Marcian." He says in his wise and deep voice. "A pleasure to see you again." He bows to her, and she bows back.

"Admiral, I apologize for the urgency, but the Fire Lord has an important mission for you."

The Admiral isn't fazed. "We have a saying back home about how we the only time a Fire Nation citizen retires is when he is dead. Do not apologize, Master Marcian."

The Master bows again. "Thank you, Admiral Sozin." She looks up, and her eyes focus on me for a moment. Her eyes are cold and calculating, and they dance up and down my body. After a few moments, she looks away. "Now, everyone, if you please, follow me. We need to get going if we are to make it to the Capitol by tomorrow morning."

The group begins to walk towards the ship, and I start to follow. Then I suddenly see something that looks like a huge black bird alight itself on top of the conning tower of the ship. It's wings sink into it's body, and then it disappears from my sight.

I shrug and try to catch up with the group. Republic City has plenty of large birds.

If it was a bird.

* * *

The feeling of the waves below my feet makes me feel more alive than I have ever been in my entire life. It calls to me, me personally, telling me that I should just throw myself over the edge of the ship and join with my element. Each rise of the boat is a deep inhalation of my breath and each fall is the release of it. The salty spray against my face is the gentle touch of my lover, the blue ocean.

I separate myself from the side of the ship. We have been at sea for over an hour now. Republic City is now only a speck in the distance, and the blue ocean stretches for as far as the eye can see. For the first time in my life, I feel like I am home.

I turn away from the ocean and scan the deck of the ship. The Fire Nation Princess disappeared from sight as soon as we began to pull out of the dock. The Energybenders are all sitting around a Pai Sho board, silently playing the strategic game. Admiral Sozin is standing up at the top of the control tower, and he is speaking to the captain of the ship. They are so high up it looks as though I could step on them like ants.

I decide to go watch the Energybenders play Pai Sho. I approach the table just in time to see the silver haired girl push back her chair and throw her hands in the air. "Damn it Aelius!" She shouts. "How come you've beaten me the last seven times?"

Aelius laughs, and it reminds me of thunder booming across the night sky. "I guess I'm just better at strategy than you, Iulia." He smiles at the girl across from him. "Rematch?"

I come stand over the board just as they finish clearing it off. Master Marcian has her hood back, and I can see her lips tight. "That should have taken you much less time, Aelius." She says disapprovingly.

Aelius raises an eyebrow. None of them seem to have noticed me yet; they are too involved in their own conversation. "What do you mean, Master?"

The Energybending Master puts her grey hair up in a topknot while she speaks. "You relied too much on her moving into your traps when you could have instead," she pauses while she pulls out a white Fire Nation insignia from a pocket of her robe. She waits to clip her topknot in it before she continues. "Used your side pieces to flank her and destroy her."

Aelius leans back and runs a hand through his short grey hair. "I had not thought of that."

"You need to think like an Energybender when you play Pai Sho." The Master says. "You need to only trust in yourself and what you do. If you trust in others to do what you want them to do, you will be disappointed."

Aelius leans forward and looks at the board. "That seems so weird to me."

Iulia leans forward as well. Her silver hair falls around her face. "Master Marcian," she asks politely. "Do you think that you could give Aelius a few pointers?"

Master Marcian grins. "Of course! I would be honored to help a member of the Impera Clan." She leans back in her seat. "I need him to demonstrate his skills, though."

Aelius pushes back his chair and stands up. "So what do I need to do, throw some spheres around?" He asks. He begins to undo the buttons on his shirt.

"No…" Master Marcian says. "You need to spar with someone." She finally seems to realize my existence. She points a red fingernail at me. "You!"

I fumble for words. "Huh? Me?" I ask, confused.

"Yes! You're a Waterbender, correct?" She asks.

"Well, um, ya." I say.

"You can spar with Aelius." She says. It's an order, and that is very apparent to me.

"Okay." I say. I'm not really sure about the whole thing, but it seems like a great opportunity for me to practice my Waterbending. Aelius takes off his shirt and reveals large toned muscles and strong forearms and I feel a rush of blood go through my face. It will also be a good chance to see his body in action. I will have a good night sleep tonight. _That _much is certain.

Aelius bows to the Master. As he walks towards the middle of the ship, he asks me, "Are you okay with doing this?"

I nod, at a complete loss for words. His body is hypnotizing me. Every step makes me wish he could come closer and just let me run my hands up and down his chest…

"Begin." The Energybending Master says from her seat. I look over and see her sitting facing us, her hands steepled in front of her face. She looks like a cat watching her prey.

I focus my attention back on Aelius just in time to dodge a large white light speeding towards my chest. I have seen Energybenders in action before, so it does not amaze me. I reach a hand over to the right side of the boat and raise a pillar of water. I spin both of my arms in a circle in front of me to call the water to me, and then I quickly make a slashing motion with my right arm. The torrential stream of water moves in a wide arc above us and comes down right on top of Aelius.

His response is to spread his hands apart above his head, forming an energy shield to block my attack. The water falls around him harmlessly, and I summon it back to me. The water engulfs my arms, and it is cool and refreshing.

"You shouldn't have even let her get that far!" Master Marcian yells from the sidelines. "You should have attacked her while she was bringing the water to herself!"

I see Aelius take a deep breath. His eyes are beginning to burn like suns, and I'm not sure whether it is his adrenaline doing that or his anger at being told he did something wrong. He releases something from his chest that sounds like the roar of a wild animal, and I cringe instinctively.

Aelius punches light at me three times, each time taking one strong step towards me. The light he shoots is very fast and I can only dodge the first two. The third sphere hits me in the center of my chest, and I feel electricity coursing through my veins. I start to kneel on the deck, but my muscles begin to respond to my commands again and I get back up.

I flick my wrists and swing my arms towards Aelius. The water running down them lengthens into two long tendrils that move to collide against Aelius's sides.

With a powerful explosion of speed, Aelius jumps backwards. While he is in the air he kicks in my direction with both of his legs, and a large energy sphere flies out towards me.

I instinctively snap at the sphere with one of my water tendrils, but I realize one of the properties of water too late. Water conducts electricity.

I drop the tendril of water just as the energy sphere dissipates into it. I hear sharp _fizzles _as the energy runs through the water that could have just led straight to me. My eyes widen when I realize how much that could have hurt.

"No!" Master Marcian shouts. She is leaning forward in her chair. "An Energybender does not dodge and jump like a damn Air Nomad!" Her voice is angry. "We stand our ground and block. Never give up ground, always take! Take, take, take, take, take!"

Aelius takes another deep breath. He is crouched down on the deck of the ship like a marathon runner waiting for the gunshot. Master Marcian's voice must have been the loud noise he was waiting for, because with a loud inhalation of breath he rolls forwards. His legs, when they reach the apex of his roll, extend and begin to glow. When they come down, a large stream of pure white light comes out of them like a whip.

I move out of the way just in time for the long stream to hammer against the piece of decking where I had been just a few moments before. When it hits the deck, I hear low _crackles_ as the energy dissipates into the metal of the ship. I raise my left arm, the only arm with a tendril of water still on it, and swipe at Aelius.

"Stop." Master Marcian orders.

My water falls apart a few inches away from Aelius, who had created a preparatory energy shield using his forearms. He drops his arms to his sides and te energy ripples into nonexistence.

Master Marcian briskly walks over to Aelius. "Tell me how you did that," she demands. "Now."

Aelius looks at her oddly for a moment. "I didn't release the energy, and instead I just let it keep coming out of me." He raises a glowing arm and makes a swipe towards a piece of the deck. While his arm is moving, a long tendril of brilliant white light extends from his arm. It cracks against the decking with a loud _tick_.

Master Marcian looks at Aelius for a few silent seconds. I hear the waves to both sides of me, but even the mysterious ocean depths are not as interesting as Aelius is. Master Marcian looks at the piece of decking that Aelius hit, and I see a portion of it has an indent melted into the metal. "That has never been done before. Interesting."

Master Marcian raises a hand that suddenly begins to glow with a powerful purple light. The red lines of her robe follow suit, and I have to avert my eyes because it feels as though I am looking at the sun. I hear a _whoosh_ and then a _creeeeaaaaakkkkkk _and look back just in time to see a long slice in the already-melted metal decking.

"Very," Master Marcian purrs. Her robe has died down now, but her hand still glows a royal purple. She admires it as though seeing it for the first time. "Interesting."


	16. Part Two: The Mission (V)

_"Intelligence Dispatch, Acolyte 729-AN_

_Confirmed that Water and Air Confederacy are preparing fleet of Storm-class Airships for attack on Codename Barrier. _

_Requesting further orders."_

_-Intelligence dispatch forwarded to Master Commodus, Earth Nation, from Regia Communications Center Delta Omega. Required security clearance level Imperial Council_

The metal underneath my chest is cool, and I am grateful. The metal in my gloved hands burns with the heat of ten suns, and it is very difficult for me not to let go. I have to hold on, because if I move from my hiding spot on the top of the ship's observation tower, I will be seen. Possibly not immediately, but I would rather not risk it. In order to remain hidden on one of the most well-guarded ships in use at the moment, I have to hold on _very _tightly to two powerful magnets in my hands.

The magnets are very powerful. So powerful, in fact, that I am sure that I will have to leave them behind when I leave my hiding spot. When I first attached them to the top of the observation tower, the resulting _clang _was probably heard in Bah Sing Sae. I was almost certain I had been caught, but no one seemed to notice.

The boat sways below me, and I fight the urge to vomit for what feels like the eighth time. I have been fighting the urges on an hourly basis, and my lack of food and water is not helping me fight them. I tried to meditate a few hours ago and clear my mind of the swaying waters, but my awkward positioning on the observation tower made that impossible. Lying on your stomach, spread-eagled, holding on for your life, is not a comfortable position that inspires one's peace of mind.

I return to focusing on the conversation taking place just a few feet away from me. One is an old man, and the other is the captain of the ship. They have been talking for well over six hours now, and they have given me a great amount of information.

"This is a lovely ship, Captain. I am surprised," the solemn and wise voice of the old man says, "By the lack of weaponry visible."

"Well," the young and boastful captain says. I can just picture him puffing up his chest. "We have so many skilled Benders on board, we decided to store all the heavy cannons below decks."

"Ah, yes. The Energybenders." The old man says. From his voice, I can tell that he has had years of commanding soldiers in the field. He has a way with words and a way of ordering people to tell him things without directly asking.

"No!" The captain says quickly. "Not just the Energybenders!" He exclaims. "The Royal Guards are more than capable of defending against any attack."

"But," The old man says. I can hear the smile in his words. "The Energybenders help a lot."

"Well, yes." The captain says. "I don't understand how they can do what they do, but it sure comes in useful."

"Once, just a few years after the Energybenders came into the world," The old man begins. "I was piloting a fleet of airships over the Air territories to the south. Keep in mind, this was at least a decade before the war began."

"Yes, yes?" The captain says, eager for more of the old man's war stories. I'll admit, I am as well. Clinging to the roof of a metal tower in the hot sun loses it's excitement after a while.

"Well, the fleet was cruising calmly one moment, and the next moment all of our instruments started failing."

"Was it because of an Energybender?" The captain asks.

"Apparently, one of the cooks onboard a ship," The old man begins. "Got into a fight with another cook. The first cook assumed he would always stay a Nonbender until he started to glow in the galley!"

"Did the cook mess up the instruments?" The captain asks, eager for information of any kind.

"Not intentionally." The old man responds. "I've noticed that Energybenders' emotions have a very large effect on their Bending. The cook was angry and the energy just started pouring out of him without him even trying to do so. It messed with the instruments and jammed our transmitters until someone calmed him down."

The two men are silent for a minute. I hear faint sipping sounds, and I realize the two men are drinking tea. "That Energybender on the deck was very impressive, even if he did scratch the ship." The voice belongs to the captain.

"Yes." The old man responds. I hear another faint sip. "He does not move like any other Energybender I have seen. The rest use strong motions like Firebending, and hold their ground like Earthbenders, but the boy does acrobatics like an Airbender and his body moves and bends like a Waterbender."

"Do you think he was taught to do that?" The captain asks.

"No. I've met his father," the old man says quietly. "Once before the war, two times early in it. He is a very traditional man."

"Ironic, considering forty-something years is a very short time to form a tradition."

"Well, the element of Energy is one of purity." The old Admiral begins to cough. When he recovers, he continues. "Pure devotion to the balance between the offense and defense. The good and the bad. The yin and the yang."

I think about what the sage man said. I have never thought about Energybenders as anything other than just mercenaries for hire.

"So why do they fight for every side in the war?" The captain asks my next question for me.

"Well, the Energybenders see what they're doing as a way of maintaining the balance. They fight for every side because they see it as they're duty to make sure that no one side has an advantage over the others."

"That doesn't make any damned sense!" The captain exclaims. "Why do we use them then?"

The Admiral laughs. "Because they do what they're told, they do it flawlessly, and they give great advice and can plan an entire campaign from start to finish in a few minutes. They've done experiments on Energybenders. Their chi goes straight from their core to their brain. It enhances thought processes, changes behavior, and makes them develop muscles and form brain connections faster."

The captain is silent for a few minutes. During the silence, I consider what I have just heard. I am not sure if I can believe it. Energybenders are not superhuman; they die just like every other person on the planet does. I know that; I have killed a few. It may take me awhile, but they do die like normal humans. They do indeed have very fast reflexes and can expertly plan out an entire battle, but a campaign?

The captain seems to be thinking along the same line of thought that I am. "If they can plan an entire campaign, how come they aren't ruling the world right now?"

"Because they have too few numbers. Have you ever seen an Energybender's house? A city made especially for Energybenders?"

"Well…" The captain thinks for a few moments. "No."

A large wave crashes upon the deck of the ship. It distracts me from the Admiral's next words, but I return my focus near the end of his sentence. "-so you never will. They're too dispersed across the whole world. Families grow up in other Nations because one or more parents may be off fighting.

"They have no culture that we know about. Yes, the Regia in Republic City is a beautiful building," The admiral says wisely. I hear another sip of tea. "But what does it stand for? It's a place for them to rent out their services, nothing more. If the Energybenders ever decided to gather up and try to take control of the world, let alone Republic City, they couldn't possibly agree on how to do it. They have no governing body. No Council of Elders, no real structure to them."

"But the Energybending Masters-" The captain starts.

"One Master fights for each Nation. If that's not a sign that they are disorganized, I don't know what could possibly prove it." The Admiral affirms.

The two stop talking, and the only sound besides the waves and the occasional seabird call is the soft sips the two men take from their teacups.

I close my eyes and focus on the hot sun blazing against my black tight clothing. Well, not completely on the hot sun. I think about the Admiral's words. He is right, one hundred percent. The Energybending people are scattered across the entire world. They fight against each other because they are paid to do so, and they do not care if they kill their own kind. They are greedy and as cold-blooded as snakes.

The hours pass by quickly. I am not really sure if I fall asleep or not, but I do know that when I next open my eyes, the sky is beginning to turn orange from the setting sun. The journey from Republic City to the Fire Nation by boat takes at least a day. If the sun is setting, the journey should only have about twelve hours left.

I sigh. Twelve hours left of being seasick. My stomach groans it's dissent.

A movement at the front of the ship catches my attention. It's a dim white blur. I think it's one of the Energybenders. All they seem to be doing is watching the sunset in front of the ship, and I can't blame them. It looks beautiful.

We watch it, together, for an hour as it slowly sets in front of us. Only one of us knows that the other is there, which saddens me a bit. The sadness is part of the job.

Still, I sigh.


	17. Part Two: The Mission (VI)

_"Fighting with metal weapons is the most difficult thing of all. They require one to be as cold as the metal they fight with. If you throw your emotions into your swings, you will go astray and hurt yourself just as bad as your opponent. You must trust yourself, and your weapon. You must feel no fear, no anger, no compassion. You must enter the _flow _of the battle like the flow of the river. Let the flow carry you and your steel to the end."_

_ -Master Piandao, _Art of Battle

The sunset falls down over the horizon. Somewhere, someone is watching it rise. Perhaps in the Earth Kingdom, someone is standing on the top of a palace and admiring the bright light of day as it slowly rises into the sky.

I admire the darkness as it intensifies around me. At one point in my childhood, I was absolutely afraid of the dark. On a deep primal level, I do not think I stopped being afraid of it, but merely repressed the fear deep within me. When I began to Energybend, the darkness was never a required thing for me to deal with. Whenever I was scared, I could just create a light that would float above my hand and give me comfort.

The cold night wraps around my bare arms. All I am wearing is my long white pants from earlier and a loose vest. I had expected the climate near the Fire Nation to be warmer than it is. Perhaps we are still too far away from the Fire Nation for it to make any impact on the temperature. On the other hand, maybe the warmth just does not want to have anything to do with me. It would not be the only thing.

I close my eyes and let out a long sigh. Cathra is upset with me about something. That is obvious. What it is, however, is not as obvious. I wish I could read people like my sister can. Iulia would be able to tell me immediately what is bothering Cathra if I asked her. But I will not, because then my twin sister will then think I am foolish for know knowing and too weak to ask Cathra myself.

I listen to the roll of waves hitting the metal hull of the ship. I am all alone on the deck of the ship at this time of night, which means I can practice my forbidden arts without fear.

I open my eyes, lean down, and grab the black bag I retrieved earlier from the bottom of my duffel bag. The black bag is made of a very hard fabric that is not easily cut, burnt, and it is completely airtight and waterproof. To be even more certain that no one can get into the bag, it has a very complicated padlock on the clips holding the bag shut.

A very complicated padlock that has a very uncomplicated combination. I thumb the numbers into place, feeling the imprints under my finger. _12345_. With a _click,_ I take off the lock and open the bag.

I ruffle though the bag for a few moments. Iulia had not been joking when she said I had brought half my armory. The only weapons I had not brought were my spears and bows. I push aside the chains linking my meteor hammers together, slide my collection of knife sheaths to the side, and find what I am looking for.

I pull a long white sheath out of my portable armory. The moon shines from over the conning tower of the ship and gently caresses the ivory symbols running up and down the white leather. I admire the engraving.

_Through difficulty to the stars._

I stand up and hold the sheath in my left hand. With a sharp pull on the light grey hilt, I pull the sword from it's sheath. The ivory blade meets the air and immediately begins to glow in the moonlight. Once it is all the way out of it's sheath, I clip the sheath to my belt.

Then I begin.

I turn around and throw two quick stabs into the body of an imaginary enemy. The blade hisses through the air as it stabs my foe in the neck and the abdomen. I then duck under an invisible blade as it flies towards my neck. With a series of slashes I sever the arm that was holding that blade.

In my minds eye, I see two men running towards me. Then they shoot metal chains at me from their wrists, and I slide under the chains. I throw my right leg around me in a circle, and I picture the swipe knocking the Metalbenders off their feet. With my left hand, I push myself off the metal deck.

I do not, or at least my imaginary foes do not, give myself any time to catch my breath. Already my enemies are shooting long streams of scalding flames at my back. I jump in the air as high as I can go. My jump takes me over and behind my imaginary Firebending opponents, and when my feet touch the metal decking the first thing I use them for is to kick both Firebenders in the back.

With a final swipe of my ivory blade, I cut off both of my opponent's heads. They really should wear neck protection.

As soon as the thought comes to me, I begin to laugh at the irony of it. My laughter breaks the nighttime silence, and the waves buffet the ship as if telling me to be silent. I do not care. I want to laugh, so I will laugh. Laughter is good. It is like a release of energy; it feels good to let it out.

I look over the right side of the ship when I finish laughing. The two ships that had been escorting us had left us once we left Republic City waters. I did not see why they accompanied us in the first place. Who would attack us in guarded waters? Fire Nation battleships and Earth Nation airships patrol their waters on a regular basis anyways. No Confederacy ships could possibly get past the blockade.

I watch in silence as the waves roll past us. The water has always been a beautiful thing to me. It has a mystery to it, a simple elegance that comes from merely the existence of the waves that traverse its surface.

A large shadow, probably belonging to a large sea animal, comes near the surface of the moonlit water. I look at it longingly. It must be a simple life to live underwater. All you have to do is find food, sleep, and swim all day. It seems to me like the sea creatures have figured out the best way to live.

The shadow pierces the surface of the water. I see a large blue fin that shines in the moonlight, but before I can examine it further, the creature has dived back under the surface of the ocean. I lean back and turn around.

I take a few steps. I hear a large _splash _of water, and I turn around just in time to see the huge sea creature jumping at least thirty feet up into the air. It's an interesting beast. It has large transparent holes along it's sides, and each hole has a dark bump below it. The scales of the fish are a dark blue, and they look so hard they could be made out of metal-

The large creature lands on the middle of the ship's deck. It's midsection is the only thing that can fit on the deck, so the front and tail portions of the fish hang off the sides. The ship trembles and creaks from the force of the fall, and I swear I hear metal breaking under the huge fish. The hull seems to hold the weight, which surprises me.

My next surprise comes from the weird pattern on the fish's blue fin. It is shaped like a moon and has something that looks like a spiral inside the crescent.

It is the symbol of the Water and Air Confederacy.

We are under attack.

The "fish" stops moving, and I hear several _puffs_ of air as I see the transparent holes on the fish open up. Two men pour out of each hole. They all wear clothing that seems to be made out of dark blue scales. It covers their entire body, and fishtail helmets that seem to be made of the same material cover their faces.

Ten men form an arc in front of me. I take a few steps back, desperately hoping that the men have yet to see my black bag. I inch closer to it, and the men slowly take a few steps towards me. I look at each of the men. They all have the same bending stance: one foot forward, one arm above their heads, one arm near their waists, and one foot behind them. They look like dancers.

I feel my foot bump against the hard fabric of my armory bag. At that moment, the grey bumps under the portholes in the sides of the "fish" open, and large streams of water pour out. The ten men immediately wave their arms, and the water forms a circle around each of them.

I use the time to grab the thin silver chain that links my meteor hammers together. I pull them out of my bag as fast as I can, and I immediately begin to spin them above my head.

The Waterbenders move as one. They make swipes with the hands they hold above their heads. Long tendrils of water fly at me, but I twist and break all of the attacks with the chain of my weapon.

Meteor hammers are one of the most difficult weapons to use. They consist of two heavy metal balls connected to each other by a long chain. They are meant to be spun in circles in order to gather momentum, and then they can be thrown, slammed into things, or used to wrap around objects. Like all of my weapons, my meteor hammers are made of pure platinum so they can not be controlled by Metalbenders.

I spin the hammer head on my right side in a quick circle. I am spinning it underhanded, meaning the metal weight flies behind my body before it makes a full circle. One of the Waterbenders pushes a hand towards me and sends a torrent of water in my direction. Not worried by the situation, I quickly release the chain with my right hand, sending the metal weight through the torrent of water before it can reach me.

The Waterbender seems to release what is about to happen, and quickly tries to freeze the water. Before he can freeze it completely, the metal weight flying like a arrow through the water hits his hand with a sickening _crack_.

I pull on the chain with my right hand and retrieve the metal weight. As the Waterbender with the now-broken hand shouts in pain, two Waterbenders to either side of me begin shooting icicles at my sides. I spin the meteor hammer hands in circles to either side of my body, and the icicles break harmlessly on the metal chain.

Using the momentum from the spinning weights, I swing one the left ball over my head in a massive arc. I bring the weight right down on the helmet of one of the Waterbenders in front of me, and I hear the crunch of breaking bone. I retrieve the left hammer and spin both ends of my meteor hammers in front of me like I am wielding a staff. The icicles that four of the remaining Waterbenders shot at me break harmlessly against the platinum.

I hear loud _whooshes _from the other side of the metal fish, and bright orange and red light blazes into existence. The Imperial Firebenders must now be realizing that they should have been patrolling at all times, and should have kept our naval escorts. I also hear shouting, and I am unsure if it belongs to the Waterbenders or the Firebenders.

A cold feeling running up my legs brings my attention back to this side of the battle. I twirl my meteor hammers in a large circle above my head, and I hold on to the left side of the chain as I whip the right side around in a blurry arc towards the four Waterbenders. I knock two of them off of their feet with the chain, but the last two are smart and jump over it.

I pull on the left side of the chain and the right weight comes back to me. I take a step to my left so that I am not hit with the heavy platinum ball, and then I begin spinning both sides again.

I realize the cold running up my legs is still creeping up my body. I quickly look around for the source of the water, and then I see one Waterbender moving his hands in a circular upward motion. Without a second thought, I cast the metal weight on my left side towards his chest. I hear the _screech_ of breaking metal, and then the sickening _squelch_ as the metal ball enters his torso.

It takes me a few firm tugs on the chain before the ball leaves his chest and returns to me. In the faint moonlight, I can barely make out the new red blood coating the left head. Lovely.

Two down, one with a broken hand, two on their backs, five to go.

I swing the right meteor head in another arc and break the helmet of one of the Waterbenders on their back. After the _crunch _of his skull breaking, I recount.

_Three _down, one with a broken hand, _one _on his back, but still five to go.

I spin the right weight in a circle over my head and then swing it around to wrap around the neck of one of the Waterbenders. I pull him towards me with my left hand and left go of the chain with my right hand long enough to pull my sword from it's sheath.

When he gets close enough, I stab the platinum blade through his heart.

_Four _down, one with a broken hand, one struggling to his feet, and four to go.

* * *

**A/N: The chapters from this point forward should (hopefully) be about the size of the last two. What I was doing before, I felt, was too long and tedious for y'all to read. I've gotten some really good feedback from people PMing me about this story, and I am so grateful for it. You guys are the reason I write this, and hearing that you enjoy it makes me smile!**

**This chapter marks the beginning of the action. Be prepared! And please, let me know if the content (from this point forward in the story) is too mature for the story to be rated T. I would really rather not upgrade it to Mature, but if I have to, I will. **

**Feel free to review or PM me with ideas you have for the story, questions you may have, or just anything! I like constructive feedback just as much as I love hearing new ideas and trying to cryptically answer people's questions! And, in answer to a reader who PM'ed me and ask who the Avatar is, I only have one response:**

**It's not Korra. **

**-August**


	18. Part Two: The Mission (VII)

"_Child of the Gods, why do you die every night only to be reborn during the day?"_

_"Because, Sister Moon, I cannot shine eternal."_

_-Inscription from the tomb of Fire Lord Zuko_

A loud sound booms through the ship hull like a massive gong. I hear metal creak above me, and I instinctively look up at the metal ceiling of my room. The ceiling does not give way, and after a few seconds I hear the shouts and cries of men and women in combat. Training exercise?

I hear the faint gurgle of water flowing, and I realize that Waterbenders are on the deck of the ship.

We are under attack.

The door to my room bursts open, and Master Marcian enters with three Imperial Firebenders behind her. Her robe and hands are glowing bright purple, and I shade my eyes.

"Princess!" Master Marcian exclaims.

"Are we under attack?" I ask.

"A Waterbender submarine just boarded the ship." Master Marcian says in her rough voice. "We need to get you to safety."

I roll off my bed and push the sheets off me. I grab my armor from where it unceremoniously lays on the floor and begin to put it on. Without waiting for me to ask, two Imperial Firebenders hurry over to assist me. One holds my chestplate up against my body while the other ties the knots to keep it in place.

"Princess!" Master Marcian's voice is surprised, and her light intensifies. It casts an eerie aura around the room with its purple mist. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to help," I state plainly. The Imperial Firebenders put my plateskirt on my legs and hips, and continue putting on and tightening the rest of my armor.

"You need to stay safe!" Master Marcian says. "Away from the Waterbenders!"

I calmly wait until my armor is completely on. When it is, I turn to face the Energybending Master. "You," I say in my most regal voice. "Serve the Royal Family of the Fire Nation. You are a paid soldier, and you do not have the right to challenge my authority."

Master Marcian's light flares for a moment, but I maintain my stare into her silver eyes. _Go ahead,_ I dare her. _Challenge me again._

Then her light dims significantly, but it still leaves spots in the corners of my vision. She smiles and tilts her head to one side. "Of course," her lips say softly. "Princess Cathra."

I brush past her and take the stairs up to the conning tower. I hear metal footsteps behind me. My Firebenders are staying close to me, which is good. Chances are, I won't be able to fight the Waterbenders off the ship myself. Also, one day I'm going to be Fire Lord, so the troops need to watch me fight besides them.

I make it to the deck of the ship and try not to burst out laughing. A huge metal fish lies on top of the deck, and Waterbenders are dropping out of large windows in its sides. A few Firebenders are already fighting them as they come out, but to little use.

I throw five quick fireballs towards the Waterbenders. They wear fish scale armor that covers their entire bodies, and it gleams strangely in the firelight. A group of Waterbenders launches a massive stream of water at me, but two Imperial Firebenders come up from behind me and raise a large wall of fire to block.

Over the hiss and crackle of the water hitting the burning shield, I hear the _whowhowho _of a chain spinning through the air. I hear a sickening _crunch_, and then the chain resumes it's spinning noise. I do not know where the noise is coming from, but I truly hope it's on our side of the fight.

The Imperial Firebenders lower the wall of fire on top of the Waterbenders. The Waterbenders split to either side of the wall, and return fire in the form of a combination of water whips and icicles. I dodge the waterwhips and break the icicles against my metal gauntlets, but my Firebenders are not as lucky. They dodge some of the assault, but icicles pierce the neck of one and a water whip stuns the other.

All of the Waterbenders are now focused on me. They advance on me slowly, arms ready to cast water whips. I put my arms up in a fighting stance and try to find some weak point in the Waterbenders' formation.

A purple light illuminates the metal fish's scales from behind me. Flurries of small purple stars zoom past my left side and pierce the chest of one of the Waterbenders. I do not need to turn around to see that Master Marcian has joined the fight.

Using the dying Waterbender's cries as a distraction, I project a large blaze of fire towards the right side of the Waterbending formation. I hit one in the chest, and he takes a few steps back while swatting at his chest. My fire doesn't seem to be as effective as Master Marcian's energy.

Two Waterbenders throw icicles at me. I raise my arms above my head and embrace myself in a cocoon of fire. The fire licks my face longingly, and I feel a few beads of sweat run down my cheeks.

I release the cocoon by slamming my hands against the metal decking of the ship. The fire around me strikes out in all directions, and the force of it knock three Waterbenders off of their feet. I form a fire whip with a flick of my wrist and lash at another Waterbender. He catches the strike on a scaly arm, and doesn't react at all.

It dawns on me that the armor is fire-resistant and heat proof. Smart.

The Waterbender crouches, spins his legs like a break-dancer, and whips a hailstorm of icicles at me. I raise a hand, shoot a large blaze of fire, and melt the icicles. I hear the _clinkclinkclink _of water freezing, and I see the Waterbender sliding down a wall of ice towards my right side.

I feel heat building inside my chest. Without a second thought, I let out a massive breath of fire right in the face of the Waterbender. I hear him scream, and he clutches his burning eye sockets. I kick him on his back with a simple snap kick, and then finish him with a heavy axe kick to his helmet with my metal boot.

I turn around to see Master Marcian fighting the last of the Waterbenders. The others lie on the deck of the ship, blood pouring out of their pockmarked armor. I see one Waterbender with a hole the size of his head in his chest, and I gulp. The moonlight reflects calmly out of the pool of blood around him.

With a swift burst of light, Master Marcian knocks the last Waterbender off his feet.

The silence that remains engulfs the ship. For a few moments, all I can hear is my breathing, my pounding chest, and the waves striking the sides of the ship.

Master Marcian turns to look at me. "Are you alright, Princess Cathra?"

It takes me a few moments until I can find the breath to respond. "Yes, Master Marcian."

A Firebender rushes up to kneel in front of me. "Princess Cathra!" He exclaims. I recognize his golden piping on the top of his crimson helmet as belonging to the Captain of the Imperial Guard. "I offer my life as punishment for allowing this to happen. We should have kept a guard rotation on the deck, but I grew complacent, and I thought that we were safe…" He bows his head and pulls a long black dagger out of a sheath on his hip. He offers it to me.

I look at him for a few moments. The calm moon twinkles along the blade in his outstretched hands. I grab the blade, and the man lowers his helmet so as to allow me to strike him in the throat.

"Rise, Captain," I order.

The Captain looks up at me. Even though I can't see his eyes, I know that they are wide with surprise. "Princess!" He says. "I carelessly put your life in danger!"

I nod. "And that's why I'm keeping the knife."

Another silence covers the ship.

I hear a loud _bang_ come from the direction of the Waterbenders' submarine. I snap my head to look at the fish-sub, and Master Marcian raises her hands. The Captain gets up off his knees and launches a huge wave of fire at the direction of the sound.

I hear a deep voice shout "Bloody hell!" A bright white light bursts into existence, and the fire collides against it.

When my eyes readjust to the light, I see Aelius unwrapping a silver chain from around one of the top fins of the sub. "Just the thanks I deserve," I hear him mutter. He wraps the chain around his shoulder, and I see a palm-sized silver sphere dangle from both ends of the chain. He slides down off the top of the fish, muttering all the while. "For saving your damned life again."

I hear a shout from above. I turn around and look up, and I see a dark silhouette leaning over the balcony of the conning tower. "Two more submarines surfacing starboard side!"

Another shadow pushes the silhouette out of the way. I can barely hear the shadow saying "Less shouting, more fighting!" The voice is old, but the swift circular motion it's owner makes is swift and precise. Blue electricity crackles from the balcony, and then it shoots in the direction of the surfacing submarines.

I see Admiral Sozin, his old age, smiling in the blue lightning-light.

I grin back, and look in the direction of the rising submarines. I see Aelius running forward, and Master Marcian following close behind.

"Boy!" She shouts. "Stop playing with your toys and fight like an Energybender."

I see Aelius square his shoulders. I come up behind the two Energybenders, but I stop when I sense someone coming up behind me.

I turn around, and see that it is not just one person, but _two _people. One is Iulia, who is wearing her normal silver circlet. The other is the Waterbending girl, Terumi. Terumi's hair is braided and lies on her right shoulder. In the moonlight, I have to admit that both girls are prettier than I will ever be.

Iulia rolls her white sleeves up. I see that her arms are covered with scars, but in the dark light I cannot tell how what kind. Her gem in the center of her circlet glows purple. "I guess girl-time is over, Teru."

The Waterbender pushes her braid behind her head and sighs. "And I just did my nails, too…"

Without another word, the Waterbender sprints and dives overboard. I look at Iulia questioningly. She shrugs.

"Nice girl. Don't see why you don't like her."

I see a massive pillar of water rise out of the ocean, and I can barely make out a human torso sticking out of the top. My mouth begins to drop, but I close it before anyone can notice.


	19. Part Two: The Mission (VIII)

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to KittyMcPurr, because she PM'd me and told me she loved Terumi. I hope she still will after this chapter.**

* * *

_"When you give into the darkness once, you can always do it again."_

_ -_Book of Zaheer_, by Grandmaster Jula of the Red Lotus Order_

The salty ocean spray wraps around my legs like a passionate embrace. It feels like the ocean is rubbing its hands up and down my legs, stroking me longingly. It is easy for me to give in to it's call and lower myself into it's embrace. I sink down to my arms in the cold water. I splay my fingers out, and two large tendrils of water shoot off me.

This will be the most fun I have had in a long time.

I move my hips in a circle and lean forward, allowing the pillar of water below me to carry me forward. I laugh as the ocean breeze blows against my face and my hair. This is the most alive I have felt in a very long time. The full moon casts its light on me and I absorb it like a flower.

The two submarines have surfaced now, and are starting to shoot large icicles at the hull of the Princess's barge. I stop a few of the icicles in their tracks with flicks of my wrists, and I grab one with my long watery arm and fling it right back. It breaks against the hard scaly hull of the submarine.

Someone in the submarine must have pointed out the huge pillar of water coming towards them, because suddenly icicles rushing towards me fill my immediate line of sight. I dive inside of my water pillar, and wave my hands in a circle in front of my body. A large circle of foam begins to form around one of the submarines.

I raise my hands above my head, and the foam rises up and forms an icy dome above the submarine. I throw my hands down to my sides, and the dome falls on top of the sub. With the screech of metal scraping against solid ice, the submarine begins to sink.

The remaining submarine begins to launch large blasts of water at me. I raise a hand and split the blasts in half. With a wave of my arms, I redirect the water back at the submarine. It buffets the metal fish-sub, but does not harm it.

I lower myself down to the ocean waves and release the pillar of water from around me. I take a few deep breaths, and then I clench my fists. A circle of ice forms underneath me, and for a few moments, I peacefully rock on the ocean waves as I stand on it.

A flurry of white and purple orbs whiz past me and begin to pelt the submarine. I watch as the purple orbs put dents in the hull, and raise an eyebrow as the white spheres harmlessly disperse throughout the hull. The submarines are resistant to electricity. Weird.

I lean forward and throw my arms back behind me. The circle of ice I stand on speeds forward towards the submarine. I make circular motions in front of my chest and create large balls of ice from the water around me. When I reach the submarine, I launch them all. They break against the hull, but one or two leave marks.

A large purple star hurtles up through the night sky. It begins to arc downward in the direction of the submarine. I, not knowing what exactly the orb will do, speed away from the submarine as fast as my Waterbending can take me.

When I get about twenty feet away, I turn just in time to see the purple orb hit the submarine in the center of it's top. It crashes through the metal scales and seems to pierce the entire hull.

"That is some trick." I whistle appreciatively. Why couldn't I be born an Energybender?

I hear screams, shouts, and general chaos come from the gaping hole in the submarine. On a whim, I surf over and look inside the gaping hole in the center of the fish-sub.

The chaos is catastrophic. Bodies are in pieces everywhere, electrical wires spark madly, and water is quickly filling the submarine. I see a man wearing blue fish scale armor, but on the top of his head, instead of a helmet, is a blue cap. He looks up at me and begins to scream expletives.

I shrug and raise a spidery hand. I feel the power of the full moon course through my veins as the man floats up to my eyelevel.

"You witch!" He shouts in my face. His head is the only body part he can move.

"You sure caught me." I yawn. I throw my non-spidery hand behind me, and I speed back towards the Fire Nation ship. The man in my Bloodbent grasp yells and shouts at me, calling me every word in the dictionary that has even a hint of offensiveness.

"You traitor! You Fire-Nation-serving-whore! You… you… you!" The man seems to have run out of insults.

"Yep." I respond calmly. We reach the hull of the ship, and I unceremoniously launch the man onto the deck. I, however, gracefully raise a column of water until it reaches deck level. I step off onto the deck.

And a entire squad of Imperial Firebenders surround me, their arms raised in preparation to attack. Without thinking, I put my hands behind my head in submission.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" A voice shouts. Funny, I was about to ask the same thing. "Stand down! Stand down!"

The Imperial Firebenders don't move. One of them, who has gold marks on his helmet, speaks. "This Waterbender is a Bloodbender!" He shouts.

A new voice enters the fray. "And if she wanted to kill you she wouldn't even have to blink." I recognize the voice as belonging to the Princess. Is she trying to help me? "Stand down."

The Imperial Firebenders immediately break ranks, drop their fists, and take at least twenty steps back. I survey the deck. The Energybenders stand in a group, looking at me. Master Marcian has a wicked smile on her face. Iulia has an eyebrow raised, and Aelius seems bored.

The Princess, wearing her crimson armor, walks towards me. "On behalf of the Fire Nation, I would like to thank you for helping us." She bows.

I don't know how to respond, so I just stand in the moonlight. After about half-an-awkward minute, I bow back. "You're welcome, Princess Cathra."

I hear a loud and hearty laugh from the top of the conning tower. I see a shadow jump off the metal balcony, and fire bursts out from the bottom of the shadow. The orange flames reveal Admiral Sozin, gracefully descending to the deck. "That was the most impressive Waterbending I have seen in my entire life!" He releases the fire under his feet when he is a few inches above the deck. The ship returns to the darkness illuminated only by the rising bright full moon.

"It was nothing, really." I say. I feel my hand going to the back of my head. I feel the smooth silk of my braided hair. I smile sheepishly. "Just trying to help."

Iulia leaves her group and comes over to me. I look at my new friend. She seems in awe of me. Ironic, considering that I'm in awe of how perfect _she _is. Why could I not be like her? Born gorgeous, able to do anything from shoot light and paint nails, and hold her own in a fight. "That was amazing, Terumi!" Iulia cries.

Aelius walks over to where the man I brought from the sub lays on his back. He taps him with his foot. "And now we have a prisoner."

Master Marcian walks over to Aelius. "We should interrogate him. Ask him what his orders were."

Princess Cathra turns to face Master Marcian. Her armor glints in the moonlight, but I tear my eyes away from the shine to look at the man I brought back with me. "Don't we already know?" She asks. "He was trying to kill me."

Iulia looks at the Princess. "We don't know that for sure." She states plainly.

Aelius turns around to look at nothing in particular. His face seems very distant, and I can tell that he is working on a very complex problem inside his head. "There were only three of them. That's not enough, at all, to take down a Fire Nation barge that has a platoon of Imperial Firebenders on it." He turns and points a hand at the fish-sub that still lies on the deck of the ship.

"The submarines are resistant to electricity and heat. I'm not even sure if the hull is made of metal. These ships are basically resistant to every element that is involved in the Fire and Earth Republic. The holes in the sides of the ships can be used for torpedoes." Aelius points at the front of the ship. "This ship is made for an invasion."

Cathra gasps. "Of the Fire Nation?"

Aelius nods. "If I had to guess, the three ships that attacked us were either an advance scouting force or a rear guard force."

Cathra looks Aelius up and down. "And you know all of this," she says softly. "From looking at a submarine."

Aelius stares at Cathra. "Yep."

The man at Aelius's feet groans.

* * *

The light bulb flickers ominously over the rickety table. The prisoner, who Master Marcian identified as being a Sergeant in the Water and Air Confederacy, is chained to a metal chair.

As his eyes open, I lean forward and smile at him. "Morning, Sergeant."

I curse Master Marcian inside my head. She wanted me to do the interrogation because I was the one who had captured the man. I think she thought she was rewarding me, but I have never interrogated someone before. Unless you count street merchants, about how much a loaf of bread is really worth.

"Rot in hell." The man spits at me.

I raise a finger and stop the spit in midair. "That's not very polite." I say. I flick the spit back at the man's face. "Let's start again. Good morning, Sergeant."

I honestly have no idea what I am doing.

"So suck on a knife," The prisoner glares at me. "You Bloodbending slut."

Before I can raise a finger, a white boot slams against the back of the Sergeant's head. "She said," Aelius says from under his white mask. "Good morning."

Aelius had asked to assist me with the interrogation. Before anyone could argue with him, he had gone down to his room and put on his armor. It's almost identical to the armor the Energy Guardians wear, except his has a silver gem in the center of the chest plate. It is still unnerving, though, not being able to see his face. I know it is under his helmet, but it seems unnatural not to be able to see any form of opening in the mask.

Aelius takes his boot off the back of the man's head. "Good morning," The man says under his breath.

"I'm Terumi," I say cheerfully. "And you just met Aelius." I point to the man and tilt my head. "Now, who are you?"

"None of your-"

I beat Aelius to punishing the man. With a flick of my finger, I slam the man's head forward onto the rickety table. "Who are you?" I ask again.

"None of your damned business."

Aelius reaches forward and places a glowing hand on the man's back. The man twitches and moans in pain. I assume that Aelius is electrocuting him. "Who." Aelius asks slowly. "Are. You?"

He removes his hand from the man's back. "Sergeant Hao!" The man says in-between gasps for air. "Please, just kill me." He begs. "I won't tell you anything!"

On a whim, I lean forward. "Sergeant," I say in my sweetest voice. "We're your friends. We just want to help you."

The man does not say anything for a few moments. After a few minutes of silence, Aelius moves forward to place his hand on the man's neck. I look at him and shake my head. A few minutes more of silence goes by.

"Our orders were to capture the Princess and bring her back to the Southern Air Temple." The man admits.

Aelius comes around the man's back and stands beside me. He leans forward and grabs the man's hair. He raises his head and brings his white mask a few inches away from the Sergeant's face. "You're lying." He says plainly.

The Sergeant is silent. "You know what's amazing about you Energybenders? You're all the same. You work for whoever pays you the most. You have no honor, just power. But power without honor is meaningless."

Aelius slams the man's head down against the rickety table. I am not sure if the crack I hear is from the man's skull or the table breaking. "You tried to kidnap a sixteen year old girl!" Aelius shouts. I look at the boy in the white armor and skirt, and realize just how young he really is. "How dare you even say the word honor!"

The Sergeant laughs from his fetal position on the floor. His chains twinkle with the movement of his heaving lungs. "At least I've picked a side! The Fire and Earth Republic fights for control of the world, the Water and Air Confederacy fight for freedom, but what do you fight for, Energybender?"

Aelius kicks the man in the stomach. It does not do much, because the man's entire body is wrapped in silver chains. It does, however, roll the man onto his back. "I fight for the people I care about. Now, what was your real mission?" Aelius yells. I see his armor heaving, and I realize that he is about to lose control of himself.

The Sergeant just laughs.

I raise a hand, freezing both Waterbender and Energybender in their tracks. The Sergeant can't see that I locked Aelius in place too, which means I still have a chance at getting an answer. "Just tell us and we can let you go." I say.

"Let go of me, you Bloodbending scum!" The Sergeant shouts. "You're a traitor to your own people. You should be trying to free me, not fighting with _them!_"

I wave my hand and throw the Sergeant against a wall. I clench a fist, and the man convulses. "Last chance, or I pop your limps like balloons."

The man is silent for a few moments, and I begin bending the blood in his veins. His body starts to tremble.

"Fine!" He shouts. "We received special orders from the War Council that an Intelligence agent went rogue and is following the Fire Nation Princess."

"Is he on the ship?" I ask.

"We…" The man starts. "We weren't sure…" He admits.

I let go of the man. He sinks to the floor, and lays in a fetal position, sobbing in his chains. I turn around and see that Aelius has already left. I guess I had let go of his blood when I focused on the man again.

I leave the interrogation room, and with only a glance at the broken Waterbender slumped against the wall, I shut the door behind me.


	20. Part Two: The Mission (IX)

_"How could I have done it without them? The answer is that I couldn't have."_

_-Avatar Aang to a Republic City News Network reporter, during an interview about "The Gaang"_

Slowly, the sun of the morning begins to fight away the darkness of last night. With orange hands, it lifts the veil of shadow that obscures the corpse-strewn deck of the Princess's personal ship. It glints fire-like from the dark blue metal creature that lays unmoving in the center of the ship. The creature has now been turned so that its tail faces the sun and the head faces the direction of the Fire Nation.

Standing on top of the fish, I can feel the wind blow against my hair, throwing it back behind my head. The metal bands of my circlet hold some of my silver strands in place. The rest feel free and loose, a facsimile of my own feeling.

The loose skirt swivels with me while I turn to look at the newcomer, who is slowly climbing up the scaled tail of the Waterbender submarine.

She reaches the top and joins me as I watch the moon fall. We stand in companionable silence for what feels like hours, not saying a sound, not moving. The wind blows our clothes behind our bodies to flap and twist in the wind like our hair.

When the darkness finally falls from the horizon, the girl beside me says the first word of the day. "So,"

I turn to look at my new Waterbending friend. "So."

Her eyes twinkle with blue moonlight, and her hair remains in the long braid I shaped it in last night. She smiles at me in a way that no one ever has; as a friend. She looks back towards the ocean waves that we carve our way through, and takes a deep breath of the salty ocean breeze. "Have you ever been to the Fire Nation?" Terumi asks.

"A few times." I tell her, recalling the nation of reds and burgundies. "With other groups of Energybenders. Always inspecting facilities, important duties, and the like." I leave her to imagine just how boring it all was. Never once were we allowed out of our hotel unsupervised.

Terumi seems to have something on her mind. I can feel it, in the corner of my mind. Her arms become crossed in front of her chest, her weight shifts from one leg to the other, and her breathing takes a new pattern. I wait, patiently, for her to speak her thoughts.

"Have you ever fought for a Nation, Iulia?" Terumi asks quickly.

I look at my friend. Her questions come in bursts. Last night, before the attack, I had been showing her how to paint her nails when she had asked me how old Aelius was. Her next question had been after we had heard the noise of the submarine jumping onto the deck of the ship, "Have you ever killed anyone?"

"No," I respond. "And I don't plan to."

"Why not?" Terumi asks. "You could make a lot of money! You're really good at Energybending."

I sigh. "Money doesn't mean much to me." I laugh. "My family has enough of it to fund an entire army for a few years. My father is _very _well paid."

"What does your dad do?" Terumi asks.

"He-" I start. What exactly _does _he do? I know he is a very high-ranking member of the Water and Air Confederacy, but he has never gone into details about what his role is. I have seen some of his massive maps in his personal communications center, so it could possibly be related to planning the strategies for the Confederacy. He is an excellent fighter, but I do not think that he fights on the front lines.

"I'm not sure." I finally say. Terumi doesn't seem bothered by my confusion.

"That's fine." Terumi smiles softly. "At least you have parents."

A few moments of silence pass between us. I hear something in her voice, a low twinge of sarcasm or irony. It bites at me.

"Parent." I whisper.

Terumi does not hear me. "My parents died when I was young. Killed by mobsters for not paying their protection money."

"My mom was killed by bandits." I say automatically.

"I lived on the streets for twelve years."

"I was electrocuted in training when I was seven and was in a coma for a month."

"I'm a Bloodbender."

"Every year I celebrate my birthday on Avatar Korra Memorial Day."

"I'm a recovered drug addict."

"Are we seriously having a 'Who has it worse' contest?" I ask from in-between laughs.

Terumi joins me with her soft peals of laughter. "Yes!" She laughs. "We are!"

Terumi and I settle down after a few minutes of ironic laughter. I put a hand on my stomach, which is sore from the outburst of laughter.

In the following silence, I hear metal feet clink and scrape against the metal hull of the submarine. I turn around to see Princess Cathra wearing her Fire Nation armor and royal topknot and trying to climb up the scaly tail of the metal fish.

In her movements, I can see her shyness in approaching us. In her darting eyes, I can see that she is nervous. With a gentle hand, I pat on the silver metal of my circlet. It always comes in handy.

"Princess," I greet. "Welcome to the therapy session."

"Right now we're discussing how bad our lives are." Terumi chimes in.

Cathra is silent for a few moments. I can see, from the twinges in her cheeks, that she is thinking of something appropriate to say. Her lips open a few times, but quickly close.

"I've never been able to shoot lightning." She says, after a while. "Some Fire Nation royalty I am."

Terumi smiles. "Don't worry, I can't do it either!"

Cathra laughs. Her laughs sounds like an erupting volcano and is a complete contrast to her soft and smooth voice. "I wish I could bend half as well as you two can."

I shrug. "Aelius is better at Energybending than I am." I recall his orange energy, his energy whip, and his secret talent for shifting the phases of elements. "He can do things that no has ever done before."

"What about me?" Aelius steps on to the deck wearing his Guardian armor. His helmet is in the crook of his arm.

I cross my arms in front of my chest. "Just that you're paranoid." I tease. "Scared of another attack?" I ask, only half joking.

"Better safe," Aelius comes up the tail of the submarine. He stops when he gets to the top, and I see his eyes dart from Cathra and then back to me. "Than sorry."

I see Cathra's body language shift slightly as her left food moves to point towards Aelius. She looks over her shoulder at him, one hand on her left hip. "So Aelius," she says. "What can you do that no one else can?"

I see Aelius's eyes widen slightly. I see a muscle in his face twitch a little, and his eyes seem to be seeing Cathra for the first time. _Just do it, _I order him silently. _She's trying to say she's sorry you baboon_.

"I can shoot explosive energy." He states plainly. "And absorb light."

Terumi's eyes widen. "Wow! That's really cool."

Aelius raises an eyebrow and looks at Terumi. I can practically hear the question in his head: _who is this girl and what has she done to the moody Terumi I met? _All he says out loud, however, is "I've only done it once before."

"Can we try it?" Cathra asks, no, _begs_. I see curiosity and awe burning in her eyes. "You need to learn to get better at it."

I almost roll my eyes. Aelius does not seem to notice. He seems to be deep in thought.

"O.K." He says after a few moments in silent reflection. "Make a fireball."

Cathra holds a hand up in front of her and a fireball immediately appears. It crackles eagerly and glints and twists it's reflection on Cathra's and Aelius's armor.

Aelius holds a hand out in the direction of the glowing flame, and his eyes squints in concentration. Before too many seconds pass, a trickle of orange and yellow dust begins to drift out of the fireball and into his hand.

The stream is faster than before, and before too long Cathra's fireball is just a glimmering spark above her hand. Aelius's hand, on the other hand, is glowing with a bright yellow light. It seems different than before.

"Interesting." I say. "So maybe you absorb energy instead of light." I suggest.

"So now what?" Terumi asks.

"This." Aelius turns around and jabs his hand towards the ocean. A orange ball of light speeds out of his hand in the blink of an eye. I see it hit the ocean waves…

And a huge wave pillar of fire, water, and steam explodes in a massive outburst from the point of impact.

"Oh," Terumi says. "That."

Cathra removes the hand that was covering her gaping mouth. "That was amazing!" She cries.

Aelius looks at her as though she just grew a new head. "Thank you?" He says, surprised.

Terumi looks from Aelius to Cathra. She looks like she's about to say something, but a hoarse voice from the top of the conning tower beats her to it. "Land, ho!" A red uniformed sailor shouts.

Aelius looks around for the source of the noise. "You would think that after a two hundred years they would stop yelling that."

Cathra giggles girlishly. "Old habits die hard."

"Princess Cathra!" Another coarse voice says. I look at the conning tower door to see Master Marcian stepping onto the deck. Her robe is glowing bright with it's purple power.

Cathra turns around to look at her. "Hmm?" She hums quizzically.

"We will be in the Fire Nation in an hour." Master Marcian says. Then, without another word, she turns around and reenters the shadow of the ship's insides.

"What's up with her?" Terumi asks.

I shrug as I walk in-between Cathra and Aelius. "Some people would rather keep their problems to themselves," I say. "But they always come around, in the end." I pat Aelius's helmet and avoid looking into his pale, knowing, and surprised eyes as I pass him.


	21. Part Two: The Mission (X)

_"Sato Experimental Sciences, Security Log 20-f-Hg:_

_Patient 24602a unaccounted for as of twenty hours seventeen minutes. Subdermal tracking device activated, no response. Teams report probable expiration of Patient 24602a due to desert environment around Sato Experimental Sciences facility._

_All Security Teams on A-Floor have expired from their injuries received from trying to subdue Patient 24602a._

_Requesting assistance in search for Patient 24602a."_

_-S.E.S Security Log, report filed fifteen years after the death of Avatar Korra._

* * *

"This is the most uncomfortable thing," my twin sister says from inside my ear. "That I have ever worn in my entire life."

"Get used to it." I tell her. I look at the video feed displayed in front of my eyes and avoid tripping up a flight of steps. My shoes clack loudly on the obsidian. "At least I turned off your three-sixty view."

"How the hell do you even walk without getting motion sick?" Iulia's voice buzzes inside my ear. "If I had to see behind me all the time, I would fill my helmet with vomit."

I look to one side of my vision and see the rest of the procession behind me. Cathra, Terumi, Master Marcian, Admiral Sozin, and at least fifteen Royal Firebenders make up our miniature-parade. "Just keep moving forward and looking official, Iul. It's not hard."

"I feel like if I blink at the wrong time I'm going to end up calling a sushi bar." Iulia mutters.

I sigh. "Just remember: two blinks to switch to our helmet frequencies, three blinks to switch to regular speaking mode."

"And four blinks to self destruct."

"And four blinks to self destruct." I repeat solemnly.

"No pressure." Iulia curses under her breath.

Iulia has to wear a helmet because officially, her and I never were given permission to come to the Fire Nation. Even though Master Marcian allowed us to come with her, she sheepishly told us before we docked that we would have to wear Guardian armor while in public. Iulia had brought her armor, just in case, but she has only worn the armor plates once. Never the helmet.

I look around the three hundred and sixty degree field of vision my helmet sensors provide. The Fire Nation Capitol is a crimson and gold display of wealth. Everywhere I look, large buildings with red roofing dominate the landscape. Fire Nation banners are hanging from every windowsill and proudly flap in the wind at every street corner.

Some people stop to stare and point at our procession. Three Royal Firebenders lead the way in front of us and do a great job at yelling at people to get out of our way. I'm surprised they didn't pick us up in a car from the docks, but I'm more surprised that the Fire Lord failed to send a royal palanquin to transport his daughter.

I look down at the obsidian street. It twinkles ominously in the morning sun. I wonder how long it took to gather up enough of the volcanic glass, and how expensive it was to place throughout the Caldera city. It is an obvious show of wealth, but I fail to see the efficiency in paving the streets with it. Maybe it makes the Fire Lord feel good.

_Maybe_, I smile to myself, _he's compensating_.

Before I can tell Iulia the joke, I see a fast black blur leap from one of the rooftops. I watch it, disinterestedly, wondering just how many secret guards the Fire Lord has observing us. I remember Master Antonius telling me once how Fire Lord Ursan inherited his paranoia from his great-grandfather, Fire Lord Ozai. I wonder if Cathra is paranoid like her father.

I look at the portion of my visual display that shows what is behind me. I look at Cathra, who seems to be intently looking up and down my back. She seems to have serious mood-swings. One moment she is madly head-over-heels obsessed with me, the next she won't even talk to me, and now she seems to be starting the cycle all over again. I wish she would make up her mind.

We walk for a few more minutes in silence. We seem to be moving uphill towards the Royal Palace that has loomed over us since we entered the Caldera. The tallest tower of the Palace is completely illuminated by the rising sun. It sparkles gold and red as though from a fantasy story.

It is nowhere near as impressive as the Regia, let alone Elysium. That is probably because the Fire Nation does not know what they are competing with under the surface of the world.

We stop at a large gate that leads to the palace grounds. Two dark robed men step away from their posts. They wear domed hats that obscure their eyes. The robes are so long they scrape the ground and the arms are large enough for the men to keep their hands hidden from sight.

"Ael," Iulia says through our helmet channel. "Those are Dai Li." She seems surprised at the presence of these people. I do not even know what a "Dai Li" is, so it does not matter to me.

"I've seen more impressive jugglers." I tell her before blinking to change my helmet from secure communications to allow my words to leave my helmet.

Before I can, I see Cathra speak up from behind me. "Why are you stopping us? Can't you see who I am?" She snaps at the two robed men.

The two robed guards (if that is what they are) bow. "Our apologize, Princess." The one on the right says. His voice is emotionless. "We have orders to request the identification of everyone who wishes to enter the Palace."

Cathra takes a few steps forward. "I am Princess Cathra of the Fire Nation. That's all the identification you need. Now open the gate."

After a few moments of silence, the two guards bow at the waist. "Of course, Princess." They say simultaneously. With hurried steps, they move to opposite sides of the large metal gate.

Then, with clenched fists, they twist their arms in front of them, and the gate splits in two halves. As the gates open and we pass through, I switch back over to the helmet channel.

"Why does the Fire Lord have Metalbenders guarding his palace?" I ask my sister.

"Dai Li are the best Earthbenders in the entire world." She tells me. "They also used to be in charge of Bah Sing Sae, until the end of the Hundred Year War, and then they served the Earth Kings and Queen until the Earth Queen Hou-ting was assassinated about seventy years ago. Then they helped the young Earth King Taishua gain control of the chaotic city-"

"Iulia." I interrupt.

"Ya?" She asks.

"Short version, please." I beg my scholarly sister.

"They're the special forces of the Earth Kingdom." Iulia sighs. "A group swears service to the Royal Family because of a tradition started by Princess Azula. They're arguably even better than the Royal Firebenders." My sister sighs again. "Is that short enough for you?

I smile inside my helmet as we approach the largest door I have ever seen in my entire life. "Yep." I watch as six servants pull the door open with large golden chains. "Thanks."

It takes about twenty seconds for the door to open all the way. The Royal Firebenders leading us bring us into the largest hallway I have ever seen in my life. Large crimson columns support a massive ceiling, and every one of them has red banners flying from the tops. Large fire pits crackle from in-between the columns, and servants and government officials are weaving in and out of the firelight. In a way, it reminds me of the chaos of the Regia's main halls.

I look in my rear display to see everyone else, excluding Cathra and Master Marcian, just as awestruck as I am. Admiral Sozin smiles as he looks around. "Just like I remembered it!" He says.

Terumi looks at him. "When was the last time you were here?"

The Admiral scratches his balding head. "Well, probably…" he hums as he counts on his fingers. "Twenty years!" He cries exuberantly.

I snap my attention back to my front view, and see a red-garbed servant approaching us. She prostrates herself in front of our group. "Princess Cathra," she says from the floor. "Welcome home."

Cathra steps forward. "Thank you." She says plainly. "Have the bags moved to the rooms of the Royal Villa."

"Yes, Princess." The servant says. "Fire Lord Ursan-"

Cathra cuts her off as she walks past the kneeling woman. "Is expecting us. I figured."

Iulia and I trade helmet-covered glances. We follow behind Cathra and go across the hallway to a large crimson metal door. The Royal Firebenders that accompanied our group take up positions to both sides of the door and stand at attention.

We stop in front of the door. Cathra turns around to look at our little procession. We seem to be grabbing a lot of attention from everyone in the Palace Hall. Some people point and stare, others whisper to those around them, and a few look at Terumi's blue clothes and brown hair with open distain.

Master Marcian speaks up from near the back. "And this, m'dear, is where I leave you." She starts walking away without another word.

Cathra watches her go. "About time." She mutters under her breath. Then she looks to Iulia and I. "You two will need to take off your helmets. The rest of the armor is fine, but no one can wear a mask in the Fire Lord's presence."

Iulia takes her helmet off with admirable speed. I, with more finesse, run a finger up the back of the helmet. It splits in two pieces, and I clip the neck portion to my belt. Iulia does the same, and we both make our hair look presentable. Iulia lets hers fail to both sides of her head, and I make sure all of mine is flat.

After a few moments of silence, Cathra turns around and faces the metal door. She snaps her fingers royally, and two Royal Firebenders hurry to open the door for us.

"Now that," Terumi says as the door is opening, "Is service."

Admiral Sozin puts a single finger up to his mouth and shushes the Waterbender.

The door opens to another long hallway almost identical to the one we were just in. This one, however, has a lower ceiling, and the only light in the room comes from a long line of fire running in front of the back wall.

As Cathra leads us forward, I begin to see the outlines of a man sitting behind the fire on top of a raised golden platform. His golden topknot-crown twinkles impressively in the firelight.

Cathra prostrates herself a few yards away from the line of fire. Iulia and I follow her lead, and I hear a rustling of fabric and assume that Admiral Sozin and Terumi showed their deference as well.

"Fire Lord Ursan." Cathra says in a royal voice. "I come at your bidding." Her voice echoes throughout the columned room, and it mixes with the sound of the crackling flames.

"Welcome back, my daughter." The shadow behind the flames says in a smooth voice. "I see you have brought friends." The flames rise up higher for a split second, but then return to their original size. I feel the heat against my scalp, and I realize just how strong the flames really are. "Introduce them."

Cathra does not skip a beat. "I present Aelius and Iulia of Clan Impera, both the twin children of the Energybending Master Antonius. I also present Admiral Sozin of the Fire Nation, with his assistant Terumi, a Waterbender from Republic City."

The fire grows stronger again. "You bring a Waterbender into the presence of the Fire Lord." The man behind the flames hisses like a serpent. "You keep strange company, my child."

I look up to see the shadow move through the flames and come to stand a few feet away from Cathra. The crimson and gold robed shadow looks down at the prostrate Princess. "But I'm sure you have a good reason." The voice says, now sounding like a very happy man. "Rise, my child."

Cathra rises slowly to her feet. The second her head reaches the shadow's chin the shadow embraces her in a right hug. "And welcome home!" The Fire Lord says cheerfully.

My eyebrow rises of its own accord, and for lack of anything better to do, I return my forehead to the floor. Crazy Firebenders.


	22. Quicksilver

"_Agent Dust has been compromised."_

_ "How do we know?"_

_ "We just received a package with his head in it."_

_ "Then they knew where to send it. Not good."_

_ "Sir, they know _everything. _Even worse."_

_ -Undisclosed Agent of the Mist Clouds_

* * *

Slowly, and with incredible precision, I make my way through the marketplace. I groan silently in my head as a Firebender patrol cuts in front of me. For a second, I think that they are going to notice my black attire and accost me. They do nothing besides look at me out of the corners of their helmets and keep walking. As their crimson armor passes by me, I wonder just _why _the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation still uses the bulky designs that they do. The Confederacy turned to using light armor, usually just fire and puncture resistant cloth, early in the war. It allows Waterbenders and Airbenders to move faster and makes us more flexibly.

I push my way through a throng of crimson and green bodies towards a stall that has long red robes hanging from a rack. In front of the stall are racks of robes and scarves. From afar, I pick out a simple crimson robe and scarf that seem in-fashion. When I get close to the stall, I snatch them off the rack without a second glance. I take a few more steps to judge if anyone saw me or not. When no one yells for me to stop, I keep walking.

I go through my plan in my head:

_Step One, make contact with the local Agent._

_Step Two, set up a base of operations._

_Step Three, begin surveillance. _

Three steps. Easy, concise, and simple. I wrap the robe around me, and delight in that it is not a complicated design. I twine the scarf around my head in order to hide my face. Let everyone think I'm some sort of celebrity; Fire Nation people will believe anything.

I walk along the obsidian streets of the Caldara city, looking desperately for the bar where I was instructed to meet the local Agent. The files I was given back in Republic City told me he spent his time at the most expensive bars and restaurants in the Caldara. I assume that the Mist Directive covers all of his expenses. Why they pay for it all is beyond me. Perhaps he is just a really exemplar Agent.

I see a familiar name outside of an ornate maple colored building. Chairs are arranged around circular tables outside, and I scan them all. I see a few members of the Dai Li eating and laughing at a table in a far corner of the fenced in eating area, their domed hats leaning against the backs of their chair legs. I quickly slow my heart beat, afraid that they will sense my nervousness through the vibrations in the ground.

A figure leaving the building catches my eye. He is short, lithe, and wears a pair of dusty cloth shorts and a baggy tan tunic. His arms and legs are covered with raggedy bandage wrappings, and his face is covered by the shadow of the large straw hat that he wears.

On his back is a long platinum rifle, and the barrel of it gleams ominously in the midday sun.

After a few seconds of standing in the doorway, the figure touches the brim of his hat, and then walks back inside the building as though nothing had just occurred.

Without another thought, I hurry inside the maple building. Inside is an elaborate bar, and several ornate people sit around a gold-trimmed arc of wood. The bartender is a fat man who looks like he drinks half of what he prepares. I look around the dark room and see several tables scattered around the bar, some of which have fabulously dressed men and women drinking and eating from small baskets of orange fire flakes.

In the farthest corner of the room, slowly sipping from a glass of clear liquid, is the Agent. A low light hangs above his table, casting a dim glow over his hands, and illuminating his silver rifle. The rifle is propped against the wall at his side. As I slowly approach him, I look at the many attachments connected to it. It has a bipod, a shoulder sling, a large scope, and a suppressor. Etched along the side of the scope are eleven dark circles. As I get closer, I notice that they were not carved into the gun. It looks like they were pressed into it.

I pull the chair out from across the Agent. "Good morning." I say, falling right back into procedure.

The figure's hat dips. "Good evening." I cannot see the figure's eyes, which is unnerving. Even more unnerving is that his upper face is covered in the shadow from his hat.

"Lovely day for a stroll around the city," I say politely and meaningfully, "Around the Capitol."

The figure's only visible body part, his mouth, forms into a grin. The figure's teeth are pasty yellow, almost gold. They have a metallic sheen to them that seems unnatural. "Isn't it?" The figure says in his deep and booming whisper.

I pause. The Agent just broke the chain of code that we had been trading. He was supposed to say that he would go for a walk, but he has to check on his pet flying lemur back at his apartment. Perhaps, when you are one of the best at what you do, you get bored of the old ways and want to try new things. Maybe he thinks that because I am so young, I am a new Agent.

I spend a few moments trying to figure out how to respond. "There are enough clouds in the sky to keep from getting sunburnt." I say, looking at the space where the figure's eyes are ensnared by the shadow of his hat.

The figure's smile fades as a cloth-covered hand brings his glass of liquid back to his lips. "Oh, I'm not so sure about that." The shadow says before it sips from its glass. "Some clouds are just imaginary creatures, trying only to hold enough substance to keep their lining."

As the cloth-covered figure sips, I think about the words. What does he mean by imaginary? Are members of the Imperial Secret Police watching us? On the other hand, maybe the Dai Li from outside are listening in to us from underground? He could even be talking about the political state of the Fire Nation, which is a free-for-all between the various nobles as they try to profit as much out of the war as they possibly can.

"Aren't we all." I say softly.

The figure leans forward, and the light from the low lamp disappears from his face completely. "What can I help you with?" He whispers in a low hiss.

"I need was told to come find you during a storm." I say cryptically. Translation: I was sent to you by a Storm of the Mist Directive.

The figure leans back, reintroducing his mouth to the light. His lips glimmer metallically as he brings a single dirt-dusted cloth finger to his mouth in silent reflection. After a few moments of listening to the conversations at the table around us, I lean forward. "I'm trying to-"

"I know what you're trying to do." The figure says, moving his hand away from his mouth. "And I have plenty of reasons to want the same thing." The shaded figure taps his fingers against the wooden table. The movements are quick, precise, and release sharp _rap_s with every contact. "I'm the best at what I do, there is no doubt about that."

My eyes shift to the figure's ten circles. I swallow slowly.

"But what no one seems to understand," the figure continues. "Is that I have a life of my own. Eventually, they're going to send enough Firebenders after me that I'll melt." The figure silently laughs, his cloth-covered chest bouncing up and down. "This will cost you."

I lean forward some more. "The Directive-" I start to whisper.

The figure leans forward, and cold breath brushes against my face. " You don't understand." The figure says as I shiver from the cold. "Your help, specifically, boy."

"Doing?" I ask. I have a strange feeling that I just stepped outside the bounds set for me by the Directive. Hell, I am sure this Agent did a _long_ time ago.

"I need," the figure says in his cold voice, "distractions."

A nervous flutter forms in my chest. "Fine." I say, most certainly uncertain about this whole thing.

The figure laughs, and it is a low booming laugh that sounds like a factory hammer slamming against a sheet of thick metal. "If you think you are afraid now, boy, wait until you see what you're distracting for." The figure leans forward, and takes off his hat with his left hand.

I stare into a perfect replica of my own face, down to the exact positioning of my small noise and autumn eyes.

Before my own eyes, the face reshapes itself into long features with a pointed nose, yellow teeth, hollow cheeks, and silver eyes.

I can barely resist the urge to throw my chair back and bolt out of the bar as fast as my Airbending can take me.

"Scared now, boy?" The shape shifter, alien, spirit, whatever the _hell _he is, grins at me.

"What are you?" I ask. Two years of Agent training and six years of field work could not prepare me for this. Somethings are so unnatural, they can never be prepared for.

The… _thing _smiles at me. "I used to be known by a number," the creature says in its cold and deep whisper, "But now I just prefer to be called by my identity. Shuiyin."

Shuiyin lifts a cloth-covered hand from the table. One of the fingers suddenly grows longer than the others. Then it bursts through the cloth with a _rip, _and into the light emerges a long metallic claw. The figure smiles in the light as the claw wiggles back and forth playfully.

"You can't be…" I mutter. "_Human_."

Shuiyin laughs, and the metal claw recede back into his hand. "Right. I'm not human anymore, not after what I've been through.

"I'm something else. I'm Quicksilver."

* * *

A/N: School started. Sorry! I still plan to work on this, because I love my fans and my characters, but updates may be slower than everyone would like.

Anyone feel like drawing any of the characters in this story? I can't draw to save my kriffing (if you got that reference we are now friends) life, and I want to see how other people imagine my creations to look like. If you end up drawing one, feel free to send it to me!

-August


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